Round Here
by lolitarun
Summary: The summer before senior year, Blaine's whole world is thrown into a tailspin.  Kurt has to put him back together... but will his love be enough?  Rated for future chapters.  Pre-S3.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: Of course I can't go very long without starting something new. This **_**isn't**_** one of the ideas I've mentioned in previous author's notes… it's a re-write of something I've been working on for about six months. I hope you enjoy!**

Burt Hummel wasn't normally one to obsessively look out the window of the house when someone was parked out front. Of course, normally he didn't recognize the vehicles sitting outside his house. "Kurt… is there some reason your boyfriend has been parked in front of our house for the past fifteen minutes without coming to the door? He does know that it's Friday night family dinner, doesn't he?" Burt watched as his son looked up from the fashion magazine he had been reading.

"Blaine's supposed to be at home tonight… his aunt and uncle from Toronto are coming down in the morning to take him to the Caymans with their family…"

"I'm pretty sure I'd recognize his car by now… it's a black Civic with a big scratch on the passenger fender. It's been sitting in our driveway enough in the past few months." Burt got up from his chair as Kurt walked over to the window.

"It does look like his car… I'm going to go find out what's going on…" Burt shook his head and put a hand on Kurt's shoulder.

"I'll go and get him to come inside. You stay in here, just in case there's something going on…" Burt wasn't comfortable with the situation; Blaine was a good kid, and he'd always been a gentleman – he came to the door whenever he picked Kurt up, he was polite, he took the time to get to know the whole family. So if he was just sitting outside the house without making a move to come in, something wasn't right.

Burt knocked on the driver's window of the car, immediately recognizing his son's boyfriend. It was strange that the boy didn't respond, and Burt opened the door once he realized that it was unlocked. Blaine still didn't respond. "Any particular reason you're sitting in your car in front of my house without coming inside, Blaine?" It wasn't until Burt actually reached out and touched the boy's shoulder that Blaine turned and looked at him. Burt felt his eyes widen as he saw the large purplish-black bruise that was forming on the right side of Blaine's face. "Shit… come on, kid, let's get you inside…"

Burt wasn't really sure how he managed to get Blaine back into the house; the boy didn't seem to be capable of getting there under his own power. Burt pushed the front door open. "Someone get some ice…"

"Oh my God…" Burt was hardly surprised that Kurt immediately came over and took Blaine's entire weight, leading the boy over to the couch to sit down. "What happened?" Burt watched in silence as Blaine tried to open his mouth to speak, but he stopped pretty quickly and moaned in pain. "Dad…"

"We should probably take him to the hospital… that's one hell of a bruise," Burt replied. He didn't know what else to say because he didn't know exactly what was wrong with Blaine. He watched as Carole brought out an ice pack wrapped in a towel and handed it over to Kurt.

"I don't know how much good that will do… his face is already swollen. But it might help with the pain, at least to some degree." Burt shook his head as Blaine jerked away from the ice as Kurt touched it to his face.

"I wonder if his jaw is dislocated or something…" Burt was surprised to see Blaine nod at that comment, the first time the boy had actually responded to anything any of them had said. Burt looked around for a moment and grabbed a pad and pen, handing them to the boy. The way Blaine favored his left hand made it clear to Burt that his injuries went beyond the bruising on his face.

_He was drunk. He didn't know what he was doing._

The words on the paper made Burt sigh. He could guess who Blaine meant with that comment pretty easily, given some of their previous conversations. "That's no excuse for him to hit you, Blaine…"

_I know._

"Oh God… it was your dad…" Burt sighed as Blaine nodded in response to Kurt's question.

"We need to get him to a doctor."

"I'm going with him." Burt nodded at Kurt's words.

"This is going to take a long time, Kurt… we don't know how serious this is. It might be tomorrow or later before they let him go."

"I don't care. I'll bring a book…"

"Help me get him to the truck." Burt knew that he wasn't going to talk his son out of going with them. Once Kurt had made up his mind about something, it was next to impossible to make him change his mind.

Burt made sure they had the pen and paper as they made their way to the truck. Given the fact that Blaine couldn't actually speak to them because of his jaw, Burt had a feeling that it was probably a good idea to give him some way to communicate.

Under normal circumstances Burt might have felt odd about having Kurt and his boyfriend alone in the back seat, but it seemed like a better idea to let Blaine sit in the back seat with Kurt in case something happened on the ride over to St. Rita's. Burt could hear Blaine whimper as Kurt tried to put the ice on his face again. "It'll help…"

"Kurt… don't worry about the ice if it's making his jaw hurt. I don't think you're really going to do him any good at this point."

"I have to try to do something… his face…"

"Isn't going to look better any time soon. And it's probably only going to get worse before it gets better," Burt replied. He tried not to watch the boys in his rearview mirror, but he couldn't help but glance back at them every once in a while. He couldn't help but smile slightly as he saw his son trying to comfort the curly-haired boy. Burt could see the love in his son's eyes as he whispered softly to Blaine, gently playing with his curls and rubbing his back in small circles.

Even though it was early, the emergency room was already starting to get busy because most doctors' offices had already closed. Burt had expected to be kept waiting for a while, and he was surprised when the triage nurse took one look at Blaine's face and immediately brought them back. Getting through the basic information was easy enough; Kurt knew most of the information about Blaine, and the boy kept his insurance card in his wallet. Explaining what had happened took a bit longer, thanks to the fact that Blaine had to write out everything that had happened. Burt didn't finish reading it all – the part of it he did read was enough to make him sick.

"I'm required by law to report his injuries. If his father did this…"

"I know," Burt replied, sighing. He glanced over at Blaine, who seemed worried about the idea of the police getting involved. Blaine was squeezing Kurt's hand a little too tightly. "They have to do it, Blaine. The police and social services have to get involved, or you'll just have to go back home when they let you out of the hospital." Blaine's hand moved quickly across the bottom of the page, before he handed the pad of paper over to Burt.

_I have nowhere else to go. The only family I have is in Canada…_

"It'll get sorted out later. You don't need to worry about all of that right now."

"We'll figure it all out, once you're feeling better." Burt couldn't help but smile as he heard his son's words. Burt didn't know what was going to happen in the next few hours, but he did know one thing – his son was in love. And Burt Hummel was going to do everything in his power to protect both his son and this boy.


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: Two chapters written, and so far none uploaded… I wonder how much of this I'll write before any of you read it.**

Burt watched silently from the only chair in the room as Blaine slept off the anesthesia. He'd sent Kurt home the night before to get some sleep, and now it was just a matter of time before Blaine woke up. Kurt had pretty much begged Burt to stay with the boy, to make sure that Blaine would be alright since Kurt couldn't. And so he'd waited, dozing on and off in the chair and occasionally waking up when he thought he heard Blaine starting to stir. So far the boy had only actually moved once, and it seemed as though the pain medication being fed through his IV was keeping him pretty much completely out of it.

"He should be waking up soon… the pain medication is starting to wear off. But he's going to be pretty out of it for a while." Burt smiled at the nurse as she checked the IV and Blaine's vitals.

"Do you know when the police are coming back?" Burt asked.

"Not for a while… he won't be able to talk very well, and they can't use anything he says while he's so heavily medicated."

"What about what he wrote last night?"

"They already have it. It's not admissible in court, but it's enough to justify not notifying his father of where he's been since last night." Burt nodded, turning as he heard Blaine groaning slightly. The boy's eyes blinked a few times, adjusting to the light. "Let me know if you need anything… his doctor should be coming in to check on him some time soon."

"Thank you." Burt had never been good at comforting people; as much as he hated to see people in pain, he just wasn't the best person to have around in that kind of situation. When Kurt had gotten appendicitis a year or so after his mother's death, Burt had relied on the boy's aunt to help take care of him. Burt just wasn't good at things like that. So the fact that he was the only one there with Blaine didn't exactly make Burt comfortable. He quickly sent a text to Kurt to let him know that his boyfriend was waking up.

Burt watched as Blaine rolled over onto his side, adjusting the pillow with his right hand and settling in so that he wasn't putting any weight on the injured side of his face or his left wrist, which had been wrapped in a bandage to help him keep it still. The doctor had told them Blaine had a sprained wrist as well as the shattered jawbone that had been put back together already. Burt was a little unnerved by the way Blaine just watched him from his position on the bed. "Does your jaw hurt?" The boy nodded slightly, closing his eyes again. "Do you want something for the pain?" Blaine shook his head without opening his eyes, and Burt watched as he tried to open his mouth. The way the boy whimpered told Burt that he didn't really know what had happened. "Your jaw is wired shut… the doctor said you should be able to talk, but you won't be able to move your jaw."

"It hurts…" The words were clear enough, even if they didn't exactly sound like Blaine.

"I'm sure. I can get the nurse…"

"No." The boy opened his eyes. "The police…"

"Won't come back until you're feeling a better. You don't have to tough it out… in a day or two, when you're not on such strong painkillers they can come back."

"I might forget…" Burt shook his head.

"Blaine, I don't think you're ever going to forget what happened to you. This isn't the kind of thing that just goes away." Blaine just nodded, closing his eyes again. "Why don't you just try and get some more rest… it'll do you some good."

"I want to talk to the police." Burt shook his head.

"I'm sorry… anything you said right now wouldn't be admissible. It would be a waste of their time and your energy. Just get some rest."

"But Kurt…"

"Will probably be here when you wake up." Burt stood up and walked towards the curtain so that he could get one of the nurses. "You shouldn't have to deal with all of that pain. I'm going to get them to give you something for it, so that you can get some more rest."

"I don't…"

"You _need_ to rest." Burt pushed back the curtain slightly, nodding at the first nurse who looked his way. "He's in some pain… do you think we could get him something for it?"

"Let me check his chart… I'll see what we can do for him." Burt nodded as the nurse walked away, turning around and settling down in the chair again. He wasn't sure what he should do for Blaine. Burt didn't have to wonder for very long; almost as soon as the nurse came into the area and started to administer the pain medication someone else was pushing back the curtain. Burt stood between the small blonde woman and Blaine, crossing his arms.

"I don't know who you are, but I want to see my nephew. I spent more than seven hours driving from Toronto to my brother-in-law's house to pick him up, and then drove another two hours here when I heard that he was hurt and in the hospital…"

"Who told you where he was?" Burt asked. He didn't move, knowing that this could be a bad situation.

"It's none of your concern."

"It _is_ my concern because he's my son's boyfriend. Blaine came to us when he was hurt, and I have no intention of just letting someone I've never seen before in my life come in here…"

"It's okay." Burt stopped mid-sentence as he heard Blaine speaking. "She's okay."

"I'm not going to bring his father here, if that's what you're worried about… I have no desire to have anything to do with that man ever again. I wouldn't have anything to do with him now if my sister hadn't married him and had Blaine." Burt nodded, moving aside so that the woman could get closer. He didn't leave, choosing instead to watch and make sure that nothing happened. "God… I can't believe that he did this to you…" Burt gritted his teeth to keep himself from commenting as the woman touched the bruise on the side of Blaine's face, making the boy whimper. "I'm sorry…"

"His jaw is pretty much shattered… the doctor pinned most of it back together, but it's going to be wired shut for a couple of months to make sure everything heals properly. He'll probably have to have some dental work done as well…" Burt explained. He'd been paying attention to everything the doctors said the entire time Blaine had been in the hospital, and if anyone needed to know what had been said it was a family member.

"What about the police? Have they spoken to Blaine yet?"

"No. He had to be taken into surgery pretty quickly after he got here, and they won't bother right now… the pain medication makes everything he says inadmissible."

"So basically his father gets to be a free man for a few more days because a judge wouldn't believe anything Blaine says right now thanks to some painkiller…"

"I don't like it any more than you do. But it's better for them to wait and do things right rather than letting everything get thrown out when this goes to court." Burt watched as the woman sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, before she sat down on the edge of the bed and held Blaine's hand. The boy's eyes were already starting to close again.

"I didn't think about that…" Burt nodded. "I should call Brian, see if it's not too late to cancel our tickets."

"Don't…" Both of the adults turned to look at Blaine. Even though his eyes were closed, he was still apparently awake.

"I'm not leaving this country with you in the hospital. That is definitely not open for discussion."


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: Three down. And as of the time I'm writing this, I still haven't uploaded the first one…**

Blaine had only been in the hospital for a little more than a day, and he was already sick of the food. Of course, it didn't help that everything he was given was either liquid or pureed to the point that it might as well have been. The liquid pain medication he was being given was worse.

"Just take it, please. There's no need for you to be in pain…" Blaine shook his head slowly, trying not to make his jaw hurt even more.

"It's not that bad." Blaine was still surprised at how well people could understand what he was saying even though he couldn't move his jaw at all. He'd never thought about it before, but really his jaw didn't have much to do with speech. Although the fact that he wasn't going to be able to sing for a long time definitely wasn't a pleasant thought.

"You say that now, but when the medicine fully wears off you're going to regret not taking it."

"So I'll take it then."

"You're going to be in too much pain then, Blaine… it will take a lot longer for it to kick in."

"I don't want to be drugged."

"You're going to be miserable. And you need to rest right now… that isn't going to happen if you're in pain." Blaine closed his eyes as his aunt sat down on the side of the hospital bed. She hadn't left, at least not for as long as Blaine could remember.

"Aunt Sarah…"

"Don't argue with me, Blaine. Just take the medication…"

"The police are coming to talk to me."

"All the more reason you should take this now. So that you won't be distracted by the pain while you're trying to talk to them. It's harder to understand you when you're in pain." Blaine felt his aunt gently squeezing his hand and opened his eyes. "I don't want to see you hurting… this is the one kind of pain I can help you make go away." Blaine nodded slowly, understanding what his aunt meant. He reached out and took the little plastic cup from her, drinking the liquid down quickly before he reached for some water.

"I want to go see her." Blaine didn't look at his aunt as he spoke, following his words with a few sips of water to get rid of the taste of the pain medication.

"I know you do. And as soon as you're out of the hospital and she's stable, I'll take you down to Miami…"

"She's my mother…"

"You know that she doesn't remember. She's sick, Blaine. And she's dangerous when the medications aren't working properly."

"It's been over a year…"

"Blaine…" He pulled away as the woman reached towards the scar on the upper part of his right arm, doing his best to pretend like it was nothing. "She hurt you. Badly. And it's all because she doesn't know the difference between reality and what's going on in her head. She could have _killed_ you."

"She didn't know…"

"Which is precisely why your father and I decided that she needed to be kept away from you. If she doesn't know and understand that her behavior is dangerous, she can't be around you." Blaine shook his head, closing his eyes again.

"I'd be safer with her than my dad."

"I agree with you there. At least when she hurt you it wasn't because she _wanted_ to hurt you. But she can't take care of you in her state, and you aren't going to be able to take care of her. No one wants a repeat of what happened right before she went into the hospital." Blaine nodded, knowing that his aunt was right. He'd had to stop playing baseball because of the damage to his shoulder by his mother's violent outburst. He could still remember the pain, the smell of blood, the look on his mother's face as his father tried to hold her back so that she couldn't hurt him again – all of it was still just as fresh in his mind as if it had happened only the day before.

"What am I going to do?"

"I don't know yet. But for the moment, you're going to rest. When they release you from the hospital, we'll get a hotel room and figure things out from there."

Blaine looked up as he heard a knock on the door; he'd been moved to a different room since he'd woken up, but Aunt Sarah had taken to opening the door herself rather than just telling everyone to come in. It was more out of fear than anything else – they were both afraid of what would happen if his father came to the hospital. Blaine watched as the woman walked over to the door and slowly opened it. Blaine didn't recognize the two men who walked in, but he did notice the badges they were showing his aunt.

"Mrs. Anderson, I'm Detective Snyder, and this is my partner Detective Stanten. We're here to talk to Blaine about what happened a few nights ago."

"It's Mrs. Mitchell, actually… I'm Blaine's aunt, not his mother. But we're glad you're here."

"I'm sorry… is Mrs. Anderson going to be here?" Blaine closed his eyes and turned away from the police officers as the second one asked that question. He would let his aunt handle the questions for the moment.

"My sister was involuntarily committed to a mental institution six years ago."

"Oh."

"Why don't we just get started? Blaine just wants to get this over with already so that he can get some rest."

"Right. Blaine, can you tell us what happened on Friday afternoon?"

"Dad was drinking when I got home. I'd been with Kurt…"

"Sorry… who is Kurt?" the first detective asked.

"His boyfriend, Kurt Hummel."

"Mrs. Mitchell, we really need Blaine to answer the questions…"

"He has a broken jaw…"

"I know. But it's important that we get everything right the first time, and Blaine is the only one here right now who knows exactly what went on."

"Right… sorry." Blaine glanced at his aunt as she sat down and took his hand.

"So Blaine, Kurt is your boyfriend?" Blaine nodded in response to the question. "Okay… what happened?"

"He was upset about something… I'd only come home to finish packing."

"You were going somewhere?"

"The Caymans… with my aunt and uncle."

"We were taking him on vacation with us. We have every year since his mother was committed, just to give his father a break. To give both of them a break from each other," Blaine's aunt commented.

"Then what happened, Blaine?"

"He started yelling… I couldn't understand what he was so mad about, but he just kept screaming. I tried to get away, but he pushed me down on the stairs. He had something… he hit me in the face a few times."

"How many times?"

"I don't know… I don't remember. It just hurt. He didn't stop until I quit trying to stop him… and then I just ran. I had to get out. I got in my car and drove, until I was out of gas. Ending up at Kurt's was a fluke."

"Do you remember anything your father was saying as he was hitting you?" Blaine shook his head, closing his eyes.

"It didn't make any sense. He never does when he's drinking."

"Do you remember any details? Anything he said…whether it made sense or not." Blaine thought for a moment, closing his eyes and shaking his head as the only coherent part of the rampage came back to mind.

"He said I was too much like her… that I was wrong."

"Wrong how?" Blaine shook his head, shrugging slightly.

"I don't know… I'm not crazy." Blaine glanced towards his aunt as she squeezed his hand again.

"Of course you're not. There's nothing wrong with you." Blaine tried to smile at his aunt, but the slightest movements made his jaw start to hurt again.

"Blaine, has your father ever hit you before?"

"No. Not like this…"

"But he has hit you…"

"Only when I was bad."

"His parents believed in spanking as punishment," Blaine's aunt added.

"It was only if I really screwed up… this was different. This wasn't because of something I did." Blaine closed his eyes again; his jaw was starting to ache, and he was tired.

"I think he's had enough for one day…"

"I understand. We just need to get some contact information from you, and then we'll be on our way."

"Is my dad going to jail?" Blaine asked.

"We're going to do everything we can to make sure that happens. No matter what happens, we're going to make sure that he can't come anywhere near you any more."


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: Okay, so some fluff to sort of give a break from all the drama. And I've yet to post any of the previous three chapters… I still dunno when I'm actually going to post this…**

Blaine nuzzled his nose against Kurt's cheek, mostly just glad that the boy's father had given him a few days off from work to spend with Blaine. Even if they did nothing but lay around watching movies all day, – no musicals, because Blaine couldn't sing with his jaw wired shut – Blaine was just glad to have his boyfriend next to him since he was supposed to be resting. His aunt really wouldn't let him do much beyond what was absolutely necessary, so Blaine was relegated to being bored most of the time.

"You need anything?"

"Hold me?" Blaine asked, scooting himself closer to his boyfriend.

"You're such a baby when you're injured." Blaine could hear the smile in his boyfriend's words as Kurt put an arm around his shoulders. "So, what movie next?"

"Can we watch _Moulin Rouge_?"

"You can't sing…"

"I can hum along." Blaine let his hand rest on Kurt's knee, smiling slightly as Kurt lifted his hand and intertwined their fingers. Which wasn't exactly easy given the fact that Blaine's left hand was still wrapped pretty tightly due to his sprained wrist.

"Your aunt could walk in at any moment," Kurt commented, nodding towards the hotel room door. Blaine smiled slightly – his aunt had gone to the gym with the intention of going for a swim when she was done with her workout. She was going to be gone for a lot longer.

"She'll be out for a while…" Blaine replied, moving a little closer.

"You don't need to be doing whatever it is you're trying to get me to do with you right now. You need to be resting."

"I just want to be close to you…" Blaine felt Kurt shift so that he had both of his arms around Blaine's body. Pretty much the only way they could be any closer would be if they were to start removing clothing.

"Comfortable?"

"As comfortable as possible," Blaine replied, closing his eyes as Kurt switched over the movies in the laptop. Kurt had brought most of his movie collection over, and they had been using Blaine's aunt's laptop to watch movies all day.

"I can get your pain meds for you… you could have had it thirty minutes ago."

"I don't want it."

"Blaine, you don't have to be in pain. Your aunt said the meds weren't that strong… you don't have to worry about getting addicted or anything like that."

"It has nothing to do with getting addicted." Blaine opened his eyes as he heard the music of the DVD's menu starting. He was distracted by Kurt pressing a kiss against his temple.

"You don't have to be that strong, okay? You're already the strongest person I know… don't feel like you have to pretend you aren't in pain to impress me." Blaine whimpered slightly as Kurt let go of him and started to get up. "I'm going to get the medication and some water for you. Do you want anything else to eat?" Blaine raised an eyebrow, giving his boyfriend a "look". "Right… I should say drink, not eat."

"I don't need anything. Not even the meds."

"I'm not going to let you sit there in pain. It'll take two seconds if you'll just humor me and take the medication. I'm not starting that movie until you've at least taken enough pain medication to take the edge off." Blaine sighed, knowing that Kurt wasn't going to give up without a fight. And Blaine really wasn't in the mood for a fight with his boyfriend at the moment. All Blaine wanted was for his boyfriend to cuddle with him while they watched as many movies as they could in a day.

"I don't want to fight. I just want to cuddle…" Blaine watched as Kurt read over the instructions on the medication bottle and poured a dose into the little plastic cup.

"You take this while I get you some water." Blaine did as he was told, doing his best to avoid making a face at the awful taste. The pain medication was probably the worst part of having his jaw wired shut, because the taste was pretty horrific. But a glass of water was in Blaine's hand almost immediately, and he drank it down as quickly as he could. "Slow down. You don't want to choke…"

Blaine was nothing if not good at following instructions. He slowed down, before handing the glass back to Kurt. "I didn't want the medicine because of the taste… it's awful."

"I'll get you some berry flavored Motrin or something, in a day or two when you don't really need a prescription any more."

"I don't need a prescription now." Blaine settled back against his boyfriend as Kurt sat back down and put his arms around Blaine's body again.

"No more arguing. Let's just watch the movie, and we can talk later."

"No talking… just cuddling," Blaine replied, watching the screen as Kurt hit the play button and actually started the movie. Blaine could feel the pain medication taking effect relatively quickly. It was a strange sensation, almost as if the pain made him tense and making the pain go away made him relax. Which almost always put him to sleep, not because he particularly wanted to fall asleep and drool all over Kurt's undershirt – the boy had already removed his designer button-down to protect it from that eventuality – but because his body seemed to think that he needed to sleep more than could possibly be normal, even for someone who had just had surgery a few days earlier.

Blaine didn't even remember falling asleep – one moment he was watching Nicole Kidman singing "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" and the next the credits were rolling and Kurt was shifting uncomfortably "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to wake you up."

"It's over already?"

"You slept through most of it." Blaine sat up slowly because his boyfriend was still trying to shift and move around. "Sorry… my arm fell asleep."

"Sorry."

"It's not your fault. I let you fall asleep in that position… I my arm was asleep before you were."

"Tell me to move next time…" Blaine let his legs cross and leaned over so that his elbows rested on his knees. He picked at the comforter, playing with a loose thread. It only took a moment for Kurt to move closer to him, wrapping an arm around his waist.

"Is something wrong?" Blaine shook his head slightly. "Come on, tell me. You're upset about something… I know you well enough to realize that by now."

"I don't want to be here right now. I want to be with you, but not like this."

"I'm sure. I don't think anyone would want to be in your position right now. Unless maybe they were trying to lose weight." Blaine forced a slight smile. "Speaking of which, how much have you lost so far?" Blaine held up three fingers; the last time he had been weighed, right before he left the hospital, he had been three pounds lighter than the last time he had seen a scale before his father had hit him.

"But I haven't really been hungry until today. Should stop now…"

"You should keep an eye on that anyway. You don't want to end up being underweight… skin and bones isn't a good look on anyone." Blaine smiled slightly, closing his eyes and gently nudging Kurt's cheek with his nose once again. "Have I told you how much I love you lately?"

"I love you, too," Blaine replied. He opened his eyes and pressed a soft kiss against Kurt's lips. They had to be gentle with their kisses – too much pressure would make Blaine's jaw start to hurt. But Blaine didn't mind. Given the fact that he couldn't really do anything beyond kissing, Blaine had a feeling that it was probably for the best that getting to that stage would be painful.

"So… do you want to watch another movie or should I re-start _Moulin Rouge_?"

"I don't care… I just want to be with you."


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: I've written 5 chapters and haven't posted any of them yet… I really need to get on the ball with this.**

The courthouse was cold and uninviting, and even though they had only been there for a short time Blaine already hated it. He really wasn't sure why it was necessary for him to be at his father's arraignment, but his aunt had insisted that they be there while the judge made a decision on his father's bail.

"Bail is set at $500,000."

Blaine zoned out, closing his eyes as the judge's gavel hit the bench. It would only take his father a few days to get his assets moved around so that he could get the money. The man had enough money to keep Blaine's mother in a private hospital and still afford Dalton, on top of other things.

"That'll only hold him for a few days… just long enough to transfer some money from out of the country."

"If he doesn't get a bail bond…" Blaine muttered.

"It's still going to be a few hours. Enough time to get some of your things out of the house at least." Blaine shook his head, closing his eyes as the woman gently squeezed one of his shoulders. "Come on… we should get going."

Blaine started to follow his aunt out of the room, until they were stopped by one of the detectives that had visited Blaine in the hospital. "I know that might not be enough to keep him for long… but there's a restraining order in place to keep him away from you until everything is sorted out."

"Thank you. But we need to get going… Blaine needs more clothes and some other things from his father's house, and I'd rather get them now because we actually know where his father is."

"I can have an officer meet you at the house to make sure he doesn't violate the protective order."

"I think we would both appreciate that." Blaine nodded in response. He was still going over what had just happened in his head, trying to figure out exactly what all of it meant as far as what was going to happen to him. After all, he was only sixteen – he was still just a kid. And now he didn't even have one parent he could depend on.

"Hey… we're going to figure this out, okay? Your Uncle Brian will be back in a few days with Todd and Janie, and we'll figure out what we're going to do together." Sometimes Blaine wondered if his aunt was a mind reader.

"You can't stay in Ohio indefinitely. And I can't move to Toronto…"

"It'll all come together. You'll see." Blaine sighed, nodding as his aunt squeezed his hand gently. "Seriously, though, we need to get a move on. I'd rather get you in and out before your father has time to arrange his bail so that we don't even need the police escort."

The drive back to Blaine's house was rather uneventful. The interior… well, Blaine wasn't sure exactly what had happened that had caused the whole house to turn into such a disaster area. He didn't remember furniture being knocked over during the whole interaction with his father, but it looked like the house had been ransacked. Blaine sighed, shaking his head and immediately starting towards his bedroom.

"Wait… why is the house such a mess? What if someone broke in…"

"He did this. He was angry… so angry." Blaine flinched as he started thinking about what had happened in that house the previous week. He could see the dried blood on the floor where he had fallen. "I just want to get out of here."

Finding a suitcase to pack his things in was the easy part. It was figuring out what he should take with him – what was really important to him – that Blaine had trouble with. The easiest thing to pick was his mother's rosary. While Blaine wasn't religious himself, something about the jade beads was comforting for him because they had belonged to his mother before she had gotten so sick.

"I'll get your clothes… you worry about the other things you want to bring. We'll get out of here as quickly as possible, okay?" Blaine nodded, heading for his nightstand and pulling it open. There were only a few things in there – a few keepsakes from Dalton and his relationship with Kurt – that really mattered. Blaine wasn't really one to attach emotions to things unless there was a strong connection, so he'd never really been one to hold on to a lot of little things like that. So really, everything Blaine wanted other than his clothes probably could have fit inside his school bag.

The two of them worked in silence. It was partially because words weren't necessary, and partially because Blaine's pain medication was wearing of and trying to talk still wasn't exactly comfortable. All told, it took a little less than an hour for the two of them to pack everything Blaine wanted – two suitcases and his messenger bag, everything in his life that was worth saving.

"My whole life is in these bags."

"Don't talk like that, Blaine…"

"Everything material that I want or care about is here. Other than that car and a few people, this is everything." Blaine threw his messenger bag over one shoulder and grabbed the rolling suitcase.

"Wait… your uniforms for school…"

"He's not going to pay for Dalton now. It's expensive…" Blaine began.

"There are other ways to pay for school."

"I'm not going to let you and Uncle Brian pay for this."

"We'll discuss it when Brian and the kids get back. But that isn't the only way… just don't worry about all of this right now. We need to get going before your father gets home." Blaine nodded, picking up one of the suitcases. He sighed as his aunt pulled his uniforms out of the closet and picked up the other suitcase. The two of them barely got everything in the car before his father's vehicle pulled into the driveway. Blaine got into the front seat of the car quickly, doing his best to avoid even looking at the man as the police officer that had been waiting outside the house got between Blaine and his father's car.

"Just get him out of here… I'll take care of this." Blaine watched in silence as his aunt hurried to get into the driver's seat of the vehicle. Blaine closed his eyes as he heard all of the abuse being hurled at them by his father.

"Just drive…"


	6. Chapter 6

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: Six chapters. None posted. I'm pretty sure I'll end up writing at least one more chapter before I actually post any of this… which means that if you're reading this right now, you've probably been getting updates on an almost daily basis, and you'll be very disappointed in a couple of days when I run out of pre-written chapters to upload! Sorry (way) in advance!**

Kurt actually really loved the time he got to spend with Blaine, even if it was because of the boy's broken jaw. Still, it was nice to just lie around together and watch movies as much as possible. "Nice way to spend a Friday, huh?"

"It is. But I think my uncle and cousins are going to be back today…"

"So, does this mean I'm going to meet more of your family? Or would you rather I leave before they get here?" Kurt asked.

"You can stay. They won't mind." Kurt rolled over so that he was facing Blaine, glad that he had brought over a DVD player to hook up to the TV instead of relying on the computer again. "What?"

"How are you holding up? Really?" Kurt let his head rest on one arm, using his free hand to play with Blaine's curls.

"I'm okay. Just… kind of tired. Of all of this."

"Do you know what you're going to do when your aunt has to go back to Toronto?"

"No. We're supposed to talk about it tonight." Kurt nodded, watching Blaine's face. It was pretty much blank, like it had been for most of the afternoon. Kurt knew that he was still taking the pain medication, and Kurt had a feeling that Blaine's lack of emotion might have something to do with that.

"I talked to my dad… I know you can board at Dalton during the school year, but we have a guest room you're welcome to use whenever you want or need it."

"If you had a guest room, why did I sleep with you after Rachel's party?" Blaine asked. Kurt smiled and shook his head.

"You… were really drunk. And I didn't want to leave you alone like that. I was afraid you might hurt yourself or wake up sick or something…" Kurt could feel the blush spreading over his face. Even though his answer to Blaine's question was the truth, he still couldn't help but remember that he had also sort of wanted to be close to Blaine.

"That's what I thought." Kurt was surprised when Blaine rolled on his side to face him and pressed a kiss against Kurt's lips. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

"But I don't know that living with your family is the best idea."

"Blaine…"

"I love you and your family… but I can't impose like that."

"It's not an imposition if we invite you, Blaine. My parents are cool with the idea, and I'd really like to have you nearby…" Kurt watched Blaine's face as the boy shook his head, smiling slightly.

"I don't think it would work." Kurt sighed.

"I don't want to force you into anything. But the invitation is open, okay? Whenever you need a place to stay, you can always come to us. We'll always find a place for you." Kurt leaned in and pressed yet another kiss against Blaine's lips, gently giving him an Eskimo kiss. "Why don't we go get a milkshake or something? Or maybe some coffee? Get you out of this hotel room for a while, go do something."

"Aunt Sarah…"

"Thinks it would be a wonderful idea." Kurt sat up as he heard his boyfriend's aunt speaking to them from the doorway. "Blaine could use some fresh air, and I need to take care of a few things this afternoon before Brian and the kids get here. You boys go have some fun… just be back in time for dinner." Kurt smiled and got up, turning off the DVD player.

"You heard your aunt… let's get you up and dressed and out of this place for a few hours." Kurt took Blaine's hand and gently squeezed it as the shorter boy got out of the bed. Kurt was quick to make his way over to the dresser that held most of Blaine's clothing, pulling open a drawer and throwing a clean pair of boxer-briefs at Blaine.

"I showered this morning and put on clean clothes."

"Then put those back while I get you something decent to wear. You're not going out in sweats."

"I'm comfortable…" Kurt smiled at Blaine as he pulled out a dark blue tee shirt and his favorite pair of Blaine's jeans.

"You can be comfortable and still look good. Besides, I sort of want a back pocket I can stick my hand in…" Kurt whispered, hoping that Blaine's aunt wouldn't be able to hear what he was saying. That would have been a little… awkward.

"In public?"

"If you'll let me." Kurt smiled at Blaine as the boy nodded, taking the clothes. "Go get dressed, and then we'll go do something fun." Kurt turned and walked towards the door that led into the other hotel room.

"Kurt, I need you to make sure that Blaine takes his pain meds before you leave. He'll be miserable in a little while if he doesn't have it. I'll go ahead and measure a dose for him, if you'll go ahead and get him some water. And don't forget that he still isn't allowed to have soda." Kurt smiled at his boyfriend's aunt.

"I know. Don't worry… I don't want to do anything that might make him feel any worse than he already does. The last thing he needs is something else to upset him." Blaine opened the bathroom door at that point, shirtless. "Problem?"

"Hole." Kurt raised an eyebrow as Blaine stuck his finger through a rather large hole in the side of the shirt.

"Okay. Why don't you take your meds and I'll pick out a different shirt?" Kurt leaned in and pressed a soft kiss against the other boy's lips as he walked back into the other room. The drawer that held Blaine's shirts was a bit of a mess and it took Kurt a few minutes to find something he liked. He finally pulled out a dark red shirt similar to the one he had picked out before and handed it to Blaine. "That one looks good. Go ahead and get dressed so we can go."

Kurt didn't say a whole lot as Blaine got dressed and grabbed his hand. The shorter boy clearly had a lot on his mind as they walked out to Kurt's car, and he didn't want to push Blaine into talking about anything he wasn't ready to discuss. That would only lead to problems in the future, and that was the last thing Kurt wanted. All Kurt really knew was that whatever was on Blaine's mind combined with the pain meds to make Blaine unusually affectionate. Kurt smiled at the way Blaine's hand rested on his thigh and his head leaned over against Kurt's shoulder. It was comfortable, and Kurt loved it. He wasn't completely surprised when he pulled into the Sonic parking lot that Blaine had fallen asleep on his shoulder.

Kurt chose not to wake the boy immediately, instead letting him sleep for a little while. Sleep was good… sleep would give Blaine more time to heal, and that was the most important thing at that moment. School was a little more than a month away, and Kurt knew that Blaine didn't want to go back with his jaw wired shut. But after a little while, Kurt really needed to get Blaine awake.

Kurt gently stroked Blaine's injured cheek with one of his hands, pressing a kiss against Blaine's forehead. "Wake up, sleepyhead. We're here…" Blaine was always slow to wake up, so Kurt wasn't really surprised when it took the older boy a moment to actually open his eye and start to sit up. "I'm planning on getting a chocolate shake. Would you rather have chocolate or strawberry?" Kurt knew Blaine's favorite flavors without even having to think about it.

"Chocolate, please." Kurt put a hand on Blaine's shoulder as the boy started to reach into his jeans for his wallet.

"You don't have your wallet… you left it inside the hotel room."

"Why didn't you…"

"Because this is my treat. I was the one who came up with the idea, and I'm the one that's going to pay for your milkshake," Kurt replied. He placed their order and waited, content with simply holding Blaine's hand. "So, what do you want to do this afternoon? We could take our milkshakes to the park… by the time we get there, yours should be melted enough for you to drink it."

"I just want to be with you. But… can we go somewhere private?"

Kurt nodded, smiling. "Of course. My house should be pretty much empty now… Dad and Carole are at work, and Finn's spending a couple of weeks with his grandmother in Cleveland to help her clean out her attic."

It was only a minute or two later before they had their milkshakes and they were on their way to Kurt's house.


	7. Chapter 7

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: Hmmm… smut, anyone?**

The house was just as Kurt had said it was – deserted. Which was exactly what Blaine had been hoping for. The two of them hadn't really had a chance to be _really_ alone since before his father's drunken outburst, and that had been almost two weeks earlier.

"Do you want to watch a movie or something while we drink our milkshakes?" Blaine shrugged, taking a sip of his own drink. He walked over to the couch and sat down on one end, patting the empty fabric next to him in the hopes that Kurt would sit close. Kurt sat, but not nearly as close as Blaine would have liked. So instead of trying to get Kurt to move closer, Blaine moved towards him until their hips and legs were pressed close to each other. Blaine wrapped an arm around Kurt's waist, letting his head gently rest on Kurt's shoulder for a moment before he leaned in and pressed a kiss against the boy's neck. "Blaine…"

"I _want_ you…" Blaine whispered. He gently nuzzled Kurt's neck, slowly turning himself so that he could pull Kurt into his lap.

"And I want you, too… but you're still recovering. If I hurt you, I would _hate_ myself." Blaine shook his head, leaning in and pressing more kisses along Kurt's neck.

"You won't…" Blaine whispered. He closed his eyes and relaxed against Kurt, pressing kisses over every inch of bare skin he could find. Blaine let one arm rest across Kurt's lap, smiling slightly when he felt the proof that his attentions were working.

"You're making it really difficult for me to refuse you on this one, Blaine."

"Don't refuse…" Blaine felt Kurt gently lifting his head away from Kurt's neck.

"I have to… I don't want to hurt you, Blaine. I want you _so_ badly, but I just can't risk hurting you. You've been through so much…"

"You want it… I _need_ it…" Blaine whispered. "I'm in love with you… I want to be loved by you. _Really_ loved."

"What is it you want?" Blaine could hear that Kurt's voice had lowered a bit, and he was glad that he wasn't the only one in the room that felt that desperate need for relief.

"You. Touching me. Doing more."

"My bed. Not here on the couch… there's just too much risk that we could ruin it." Blaine nodded, letting the taller boy pull him to his feet and lead the way to the bedroom. It wasn't as if Blaine hadn't been there before; he'd just always felt more comfortable letting Kurt invite him into the room. Bedrooms were sort of sacred to Blaine, the private place everyone had that was theirs. And Blaine had no desire to just walk into the room unless Kurt _wanted_ him there. Which at this point was most definitely the case.

Blaine sat on the bed gently next to his boyfriend. As badly as they wanted each other, both boys knew that they had to take it easy. To be gentle. Blaine was still healing, and no matter how much he tried to deny it he was still in some pain when the meds wore off or he wasn't careful enough. It started with soft kisses and gentle caresses, hands roaming on top of clothing for a few moments until they found skin underneath. Kurt gently nipped at Blaine's bottom lip before he let his mouth move lower, down to the boy's neck to continue spreading kisses and the occasional bite as they slowly became more familiar with each other's bodies.

"I have condoms. And lube. My dad…" Blaine nodded, understanding exactly what Kurt meant. Burt had wanted Kurt to be safe when this eventually happened. Blaine had always respected Kurt's father, but at this point he couldn't help but love the man. It made things easier, because they didn't have to worry about stopping themselves from going further than they were materially prepared to go.

Blaine pulled Kurt's shirt out of his waistband, slowly unbuttoning it and starting to push it back down the boy's arms. The undershirt was a bit more difficult, but it definitely went much faster. Kurt had Blaine's tee shirt off just as quickly, and Blaine closed his eyes and hummed in anticipation as Kurt gently pushed him back so that he was lying across the bed. Both boys kicked off their shoes quickly to make sure that nothing would get in the way.

Hands fumbled with the buttons on jeans and it took some time for either of them to get free from the denim. Blaine's jeans and underwear came off much more easily than Kurt's skinny jeans, but Blaine didn't take as long as he thought he would need to get them off Kurt's thin frame. And then they lay there for a few moments, just looking at each other and carefully memorizing the way their bodies looked to one another. Blaine smiled slightly at the soft planes of Kurt's pale skin, the obvious rounding off his ass that Blaine was only beginning to see, and the beauty of Kurt's half-hard cock as it grew and hardened without even the slightest of touches.

Blaine couldn't help himself as his hand slid down his body to his own erection and he started with slow, lazy strokes that were just enough to give him some small amount of relief. He watched the way Kurt smiled at him before his hand has gently pried away. "No. If we're going to do this, it's going to be done right. _I'm_ going to touch you." Blaine nodded, letting his hand move away so that Kurt's could take its place. Again there were slow, languid strokes. Fingertips pressing gently against the vein on the underside and the nerves near the head. "I'm going to fuck you, and then I'll suck you off if that's what you need." Blaine felt the twitch run through his entire body at Kurt's words. "I see you like it when I talk dirty."

"It's sexy," Blaine replied softly. He moaned as Kurt's stroking became a little harder, but whimpered as Kurt's hand moved away so that the taller boy could get their supplies. Blaine was a little surprised when Kurt stopped what he was doing and looked back at Blaine.

"I'm not hurting you, am I?" Kurt asked. Blaine shook his head, raising an eyebrow. "You whimper like that in your sleep, when you're in pain."

"You sure I'm in pain?" Blaine asked. "I dream a lot. Mostly about you." Blaine reached up and gently pulled Kurt's head down towards his face, pressing soft kisses across every bare bit of skin he could get to.

"Okay… I get it. But let me get the supplies, okay? I promised my dad that when I did this, I would be careful." Blaine nodded, letting go of Kurt. He still wasn't all that happy about the fact that the boy wasn't touching him any more, but Kurt was back quickly with his hands all over Blaine's chest once Kurt had dropped the items onto the bed next to them. Blaine closed his eyes as Kurt started pressing soft kisses against his lips again, enjoying the feeling of having his boyfriend pressed against him so closely.

Blaine's eyes shot open as Kurt started drifting to Blaine's left, closer and closer to the bruising and stitches on the side of his face. "Kurt…"

"I promise you, I'll be gentle. I just want to love you… every inch of you." Blaine reached up and pushed a strand of hair out of Kurt's face before he relaxed and let the other boy continue. Kurt was just as gentle as he promised, his lips barely brushing over the injured skin until he reached Blaine's earlobe, which he gently nibbled at for a moment. "See?"

Kurt's hands were busy the entire time he was kissing, stroking all over the lower half of Blaine's body and sending shivers of excitement through him. Blaine let out a shuddering breath as Kurt finally reached down to touch his cock again, this time almost as if he were petting it.

"If I hurt you, you have to tell me, okay? That's the last thing I want to do…" Blaine nodded, doing his best to relax as Kurt started getting everything ready. He was nervous, of course; no matter how much Blaine understood theoretically about sex, he didn't have any real experience in these things. He'd touched himself before, of course – let his fingers wander into the unknown depths of his body to discover what felt good. But to have someone else touch him that way, to use something other than fingers to touch himself that way – it was completely foreign. Blaine was so lost in thought he didn't even really notice that Kurt had slid a pillow under his back. It wasn't until he felt slick fingers touching him, gently massaging the puckered entrance, that Blaine realized that Kurt was ready.

Lips pressed softly against each other as Kurt gently pressed forward with a single finger. "Mmmm…" Blaine moaned. It stung a bit more than he had anticipated – Blaine hadn't done this for himself in a while, and he didn't remember it being quite this bad.

"Am I hurting you?" Kurt asked, starting to pull back.

"Stop. Give me a minute…" Blaine took a couple of deep breaths to relax himself before he nodded for Kurt to continue. It was almost painfully slow this time, but soon enough Kurt's finger was buried all the way up to his knuckle and Blaine smiled slightly as the taller boy wiggled his finger around just a little. It felt so much better having someone else do this. "More… please…" Blaine couldn't help but whimper as Kurt withdrew his finger, squirting a little more lube onto his hand and spreading it to cover more fingers.

The tip of the first finger slid back inside fairly easily, and Kurt gently massaged the whole area for a moment before he started to press in a second. Again it was a slow process, Kurt inching his fingers up into Blaine's body so that there was plenty of time for Blaine to adjust to the intrusion. Blaine simply did his best to relax into what was happening, forcing himself not to tense up despite the discomfort. But soon Kurt's finger were buried deep inside, the pads just barely brushing against an area that sent shocks of pleasure through Blaine's entire body. Kurt chuckled at the sounds Blaine made and the way his body moved on its own to make Kurt's fingers brush that spot over and over again. "I see I've found your prostate there… you're falling apart and I'm not even trying to get you there yet."

"Just keep going… _please_." Blaine hadn't intended to sound so desperate, but the truth was that he _needed_ Kurt to continue. Blaine wasn't sure how much more of this teasing his body could handle. Kurt seemed to understand as he started gently moving his fingers to stretch the puckered muscle just a bit more, trying to make what was coming as painless as possible. Both boys instinctively knew that this would hurt, but Kurt just wanted to make it a little more bearable for Blaine because he wanted the boy to enjoy himself. More than anything, Kurt wanted Blaine to be happy with their first time.

Blaine barely noticed a third finger being added because Kurt had paid so much attention to stretching him out already. But Kurt was starting to move faster, stretching him out as though it was urgent – as though Kurt _had_ to have Blaine – and Blaine had to admit that despite his discomfort it felt _amazing_. The pain and the pleasure had sort of morphed into one mind-blowing feeling that Blaine probably could have come from if he didn't want to feel Kurt inside of him so badly.

"I'm ready… please, Kurt…" Blaine didn't have to ask twice. He whimpered as Kurt's fingers disappeared, leaving him feeling empty for a moment until he felt the head of Kurt's penis pressing gently into him. He closed his eyes and focused on breathing in and out as Kurt slid into him. He could feel his body stretching and filling up with Kurt. The other boy slid all the way in without stopping, until he was finally buried to the point that his hips were pressed against Blaine's ass.

"Are you okay?" Blaine nodded, reaching up to take one of Kurt's hands. He intertwined their fingers and squeezed gently. "Sit up…" Blaine raised an eyebrow, wondering what Kurt intended to do. "I just want to change positions… I want you on top of me." Blaine nodded, wrapping his arms around Kurt's torso as they moved together until Kurt was kneeling with Blaine sitting on his lap. The change in position felt so good, especially since Blaine's body weight meant that Kurt's dick was pressed up against his prostate.

Blaine held onto his boyfriend for dear life, humming softly because he couldn't moan. His dick was caught between them, leaking precome simply because the sensations running through his body were so intense. And then Kurt started gently rocking back and forth, holding Blaine to himself just as tightly. It was a slow build in intensity, but Blaine loved it. Kurt was being so gentle and loving… it was the closest Blaine had ever felt to the boy. And if Blaine hadn't been sure before, there was no way that he could have doubted how much he loved Kurt.

The two boys stayed that way for a while; it was as if time didn't matter any more, because they were so physically close to one another and it just felt so _right_. Blaine whimpered as the sensations got to be too much. "_Coming…_" he whispered, groaning as he spilled out over both of their chests. Kurt wasn't far behind, and Blaine could feel him shuddering inside him. Blaine sighed in contentment as he lifted himself off Kurt.

"You didn't have to move… I was fine." Blaine half-smiled through heavy-lidded eyes.

"I _did_." Blaine gently pulled Kurt so that they were laying down on the bed and wrapped his arms around the other boy. "I love you…"

"I love you, too."


	8. Chapter 8

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: So this is the first chapter I didn't have written before I started posting. Which means that unfortunately, you won't be getting dailyish updates anymore. But I will update as much as possible considering I'm taking 12 hours worth of classes (six hours of which are at the masters level) and working 10 to 15 hours a week right now.**

Blaine wasn't sure at what point they had gotten cleaned up and dressed; everything after sex was a bit blurred, a confusion of cuddling and caressing and soft kisses. Blaine was tired, but he knew that at some point they had hopped into the shower together because Kurt's dad was going to be home shortly and they really needed to clean up before they put their clothes back on.

At some point the boys ended up back on the couch, drinking their melted milkshakes with Blaine's head in Kurt's lap as they watched the Sondheim birthday concert for the fifth or sixth time.

"I have to say, David Hyde Pierce never gets old…" Kurt commented.

"I love Sondheim… and the dirtyish original lyrics to this song…"

"The _Sweeney Todd_ gag is funny… but I wish they would just do the songs from that show already. It's so good."

The two boys were quiet for a while, until Burt opened the garage door in the midst of "A Little Priest" – which both Kurt and Blaine were watching closely because it was Patti LuPone. "You boys having fun?"

"Shhh!" Blaine couldn't help but giggle at Kurt's insistence that his father be quiet even though they had watched this concert so many times before. Of course, the noise he made earned him a soft _thwap_ against the uninjured side of his head. Blaine pouted until the end of the song, at which point Kurt leaned over and kissed him gently. "You don't interrupt LuPone… _both_ of you should know better than that by now!"

"Sorry… I didn't realize who was singing. Carole's bringing home dinner when she gets off work. Blaine, if your aunt wants to join us I can get Carole to bring home some extra, and we'll figure out something for you." Blaine nodded, pulling out his phone.

"I can call her for you, if you don't want to talk on the phone. I know the pain medicine is starting to wear off." Blaine nodded, handing his phone over to his boyfriend. Blaine got up to go to the bathroom as Kurt made the phone call, but he stopped as he felt Burt's hand on one of his shoulders.

"You doin' alright, kid?" Blaine nodded, sticking his hands in his pockets. "What's the plan as far as school? Have you and your aunt talked about it?"

"Not yet. She was waiting until my uncle got back from vacation." Blaine watched as Burt nodded.

"Listen, Carole and I talked. We haven't mentioned it to the boys yet, but if Dalton doesn't pan out that guest room is yours and we can put you into McKinley if you don't want to go to Canada. If you can't go to Canada for some reason." Blaine couldn't help the tears that started sliding down his face. To have someone who wasn't related to him – someone who didn't have to give a shit about him – care so much was a little too much. "Hey… did I say something wrong?"

Blaine shook his head in response to Burt's question, reaching up and trying to wipe the tears away. "No… it's just…" Blaine couldn't even come up with words to explain the way he felt about what Burt had just said. Blaine knew that Burt wasn't one to show much physical affection, but he couldn't help himself as he embraced the man in a hug.

"Oh…" Blaine wasn't at all surprised that it took Burt a moment to respond to the sudden hug, but he didn't really care. "Hey, it's okay… it's just something for you to think about. You don't have to do anything you don't want to do. We just wanted you to know that you have options." Blaine stepped back and reached up, wiping away the tears that had come to his eyes.

"Thank you. It… it's just one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me," Blaine replied.

"You're important to Kurt… that makes you important to us, too." Blaine nodded at Burt's words. He didn't fully understand what Burt meant by that, but Blaine knew that _someone's_ father cared about him, even if his own father didn't. "Go ahead and get back to whatever you were doing. We'll talk more about all of this after you've talked with your aunt and uncle if necessary. I can bring it up with your aunt during dinner tonight."

"Thank you. I'd really appreciate that." Blaine watched as Burt nodded.

"It's no problem. Now go ahead." Blaine hurried through doing what he needed to do so that he could get back to Kurt. He wasn't sure if he was going to tell the boy what Burt had said or not, but he wanted to be with Kurt even more now that he realized that there was a possibility he might have to not only leave Lima, but maybe even leave the country.

By the time Blaine was back, Kurt had already made the phone call and switched to a new movie for them to watch. "Your aunt isn't coming… apparently your uncle and cousins are already back in the country and they're on their way to the hotel right now. But she said that if you wanted to stay you could… your cousins are tired and they're trying to get settled. Is your jaw okay?"

"Sore, but not bad." Blaine snuggled up next to Kurt, letting his head rest against the taller boy's shoulder. He purposely made it so that he was almost sitting in Kurt's lap, but not quite – that wouldn't have exactly been appropriate with Kurt's dad literally in the next room. Blaine closed his eyes as Kurt put an arm around his shoulders, thoroughly enjoying the time that they were getting to spend together.

"Something wrong?" Blaine shook his head.

"I just wanted to be closer to you…" Blaine didn't see the look of shock on Kurt's face.

"Blaine… we can't do that _now_… not with my _dad_ here…" Blaine sat up and raised an eyebrow at Kurt's response.

"That wasn't what I meant…" Blaine snaked one arm around Kurt's waist and put his head back. "This was all I wanted."

"Oh… well that's okay. It's just that the last time you were that close…" Kurt began. Blaine nodded, remembering what they had done earlier in the day. He wished that Burt wasn't home at that moment, mostly because he sort of wanted a repeat of what had already happened. He was still a little uncomfortable – and Blaine had a feeling that Burt might have picked up on that but he really wasn't sure because he hadn't said anything about it – but that didn't mean that Blaine wasn't going to want to do that again. He had felt so close to Kurt when they were together. It felt _right_.

"You're being quiet."

"Just thinking about that…"

"You liked it, right? You're okay with what happened?" Kurt asked softly.

"I did. I am. I love that you were my first." Blaine leaned over and pressed a soft kiss against Kurt's lips.

"First what?" Kurt and Blaine both looked up quickly at the sound of Burt's voice. "Oh. Do we… you two are okay, right?"

"We're fine, Dad. We waited until it meant something," Kurt replied. Both boys watched, slowly moving away from each other as Burt nodded.

"I still think we need to talk… set some ground rules."

"Okay." Kurt turned off the DVD player as Burt sat down. He knew from experience that it would be easier on everyone if they just let Burt do this now.

"I can't stop you two from having sex… but you two need to use protection. Every time, no matter what. The free clinic gives out free condoms, or you can buy them at the grocery store or whatever. And take care of each other… no pressuring each other, nothing that's going to get one of you hurt. I can and will take away bedroom doors if I have to, understood?" Both boys nodded. "Good. Now why don't you boys go to the kitchen and see if you can find something for Blaine to have for dinner? If any other issues come up, we can talk about them later." Blaine and Kurt both got up to do what they were told. As they walked, Blaine couldn't help but wonder what Burt was thinking about him at that moment.


	9. Chapter 9

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: I actually got another chapter written before I ran out of chapters to upload! Aren't you proud of me?**

Blaine wasn't really looking forward to leaving Kurt's house that evening. He really would have preferred to stay with his boyfriend's family for the night, but everyone knew that wasn't an option. Blaine had to deal with his aunt and uncle and figuring out where he would be living for the school year.

Blaine felt Kurt squeeze his hand as the pulled into the hotel's parking lot. "Hey… whatever happens, you have my number if you need me. I can be here in ten minutes…" Blaine nodded, leaning over to Kurt so that they could get a quick kiss in before he had to get out. "I love you, okay? No matter what, I love you. And if we have to do a long-distance relationship, then I will for you."

"I love you, too," Blaine replied. "I'll text you when I know what's going on." Neither boy particularly wanted Blaine to get out of the car, but he had to; he had to go deal with the reality that he might end up in Canada for the next year and a half – at least until he turned eighteen – unless his aunt and uncle could agree on some other arrangement with him.

"Blaine? Is that you?" Blaine waved at his aunt and uncle as he closed the door softly so that he wouldn't wake his cousins up. "Come on in here… let's talk."

Blaine sat down in the desk chair that his uncle had pushed towards one of the beds while they sat down on the bed itself. "Blaine, how well do you know Burt Hummel?" his uncle asked.

"He's Kurt's dad. He took me to the hospital… why?"

"Burt called us. He told us about the offer they made you," his aunt replied. Blaine nodded, knowing exactly what they were talking about.

"We know that you don't want to go to Toronto, Blaine. And by the time we could get your passport worked out, you would end up missing at least a week of school."

"I don't think I understand…"

"Our point is that we want you to be happy, Blaine," his aunt said, reaching out to put a hand on his knee. "The trust fund set up for you will cover a year of Dalton and still leave plenty of money for you to go to college. Your mother was smart, when she was lucid… she put every penny she got after our mother died into a trust fund for you that your father couldn't touch."

"And if I don't want to go to Dalton?" Blaine asked softly.

"Honestly, I'll enroll you wherever you'll be happy. You deserve that, at the very least. At this point, we just need to know what you want to do about school. As soon as you let us know what you want to do, we'll take care of all the arrangements. You just have to let us know soon, okay?" Blaine nodded, sighing.

"Why don't you go get a shower, get ready for bed? Eric's sleeping in the bed you've been in, but you can take the spare bed in here if you'd rather have one to yourself," his aunt replied.

"And Blaine… don't make your choice just because of Kurt, okay? You need to pick what's best for you, no matter how that affects Kurt or your relationship. This is your life… live it for yourself." Blaine nodded, standing up and wandering over into the bathroom where all of his things were. He pulled his cell phone out of the pocket of his jeans as soon as he got the door closed, sending Kurt a quick text.

_They're letting me decide. Not going to Toronto, at least._

Blaine put his phone on the counter as he took his shower, leaving it as far away from the water as possible. He couldn't help but wince a little as the hot water came in contact with certain areas of his skin; Blaine hadn't noticed that Kurt had scratched his back up more than just a little bit until that moment. He would have to comment on that one when he texted Kurt again.

It wasn't until Blaine got out of the shower that he realized he didn't have any clean clothes. He sighed and wrapped his towel around his waist, hoping he could rush out and grab a clean pair of boxer briefs and an undershirt without anyone seeing his injuries. While his aunt and uncle were pretty cool about his sexuality, Blaine wasn't sure how they would react to the idea of him having sex with anyone at sixteen years old.

Blaine got lucky; his aunt and uncle were too involved in a deep conversation about something to even notice that he was out of the shower. "Do you think we're doing the right thing here? Really?" his uncle asked.

"Blaine is sixteen years old. He could be emancipated if that's what he wanted… if we give him the opportunity to choose, he won't push us away. I've lost my sister already, to mental illness. If I can keep him close, even if that means letting him go, I'm going to do it." Blaine hurried to put on his shirt before he ducked his head through the doorway.

"You wouldn't lose me…" he began. Both his aunt and uncle looked up, surprised.

"But you would resent us, Blaine. And I don't want that any more than I want you to push us away." Blaine nodded, ducking back around the door so that he could finish getting ready for bed. He put the towel back in the bathroom and picked up his phone.

_Let me know what you choose. Get some rest. XO_

Blaine smiled slightly at Kurt's choice of ways to end the text. They usually ended the night that way, sending each other a hug and a kiss before they went to bed. It was sappy – the type of thing people really only saw in silly romance movies. But they had just sort of started doing it one night, and it had stuck.

_Of course I will. You do the same. XO_

Blaine turned his phone off before he walked out of the bathroom again, rushing through the darkened room to avoid waking up his cousins. Blaine just sort of stood in the doorway for a minute, a little unsure of which bed he should take. He'd been sleeping so much since he'd gotten out of the hospital that he wasn't really sure which bed his aunt had been sleeping in the whole time.

"Why don't you take the bed by the window? Your uncle's a human electric blanket, and the air conditioner won't blow as cold on you over there." Blaine nodded as his aunt gently rubbed his back with one hand. "Let me get you some pain medicine… I know you said it hurts more at night."

Blaine took the medicine, climbing into the bed. "Thank you, Aunt Sarah. For everything."


	10. Chapter 10

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: So slightly short, but I'm happy with it. It's kind of just filler, and funny brotherly stuff. :)**

Blaine felt a little awkward standing on Kurt's front doorstep with his clothes in a suitcase, but he didn't really have much of a choice. His aunt had to leave to go back to Canada with his uncle and cousins because she had to get back to work. Without a passport – which was still somewhere in his father's possession – Blaine couldn't even go visit them in Toronto until school started. It would take at least six weeks to get him a new passport, and that was after dealing with all of the red tape caused by the entire mess in Blaine's family situation.

"'Sup, man? I heard you were coming to stay with us until school starts back." Blaine forced a smile at Finn's greeting. "Oh… you're moving in tonight?"

"My family goes to Toronto tonight. Can't stay in a hotel by myself…"

"Oh… cool, yeah, no problem. Come on in, man." Blaine raised an eyebrow.

"Is something wrong?" Blaine asked.

"Burt and Carole aren't here… it's their date night. And I'm supposed to be having dinner with Rachel and her dads…" Blaine just nodded. "I guess it's just going to be the two of you here tonight…"

"Finn, were you going to tell me my boyfriend was here, or were you just going to hog him for the rest of the afternoon until you go to Rachel's house?" Blaine was thankful Kurt showed up at that point. The fact that Finn didn't know what was going on just made all of this incredibly awkward and uncomfortable.

"Mom and Burt know he's moving in tonight, don't they?"

"Yes, they do. I promised them I would take care of everything, so you can go do whatever it is before you go over to Rachel's house to make out with her until her dads make you two tear apart to actually eat something."

"We don't just make out…" Finn began.

"We really don't care to hear about what you and your girlfriend do behind closed doors, Finn. Now let the man in the house, so that I can take him upstairs to his room." Finn stepped out of the way as Kurt took one of Blaine's suitcases. Finn seemed to think that he needed to help, too, and suddenly Blaine was left with just his messenger bag and a backpack.

"I can carry some of my own stuff…" Blaine commented, watching as the other two boys started up the stairs with his things. The other two seemed to ignore him, so Blaine simply shook his head and followed their lead up to the guest bedroom.

The room was nice; like Kurt's, the walls were a light gray that almost looked white, with light hardwood floors. Unlike Kurt's room, however, this one had a dark navy blue rug and bedding that looked really comfortable. The furniture was all white wood – pretty basic, simple furnishings. Blaine had been here before, of course – he had spent a couple of nights in this room since he and Kurt had started dating because it had gotten too late for him to drive home. But it was different to stand here and call it _his_ room.

"I forgot to get hangers for this room… you probably don't have any, do you?" Blaine shook his head. "Finn, do you have any extra hangers in your closet?"

"I dunno… I can check, I guess…" Finn began. Blaine took one of the bags from Finn as the football player started out of the room.

"It's not a big deal if there aren't any hangers…"

"We'll get some for you if Finn doesn't have any." Blaine watched as Kurt bustled around the room, busying himself by starting to put away Blaine's things.

"Kurt… you don't have to do that. I packed them myself and I'm capable of unpacking all of them," Blaine commented. He walked over and put a hand on Kurt's shoulder.

"I just figured I could help you put everything away before we get dinner… that way we have the rest of tonight to just relax and hang out. Maybe talk for a little while, if your jaw isn't too sore." Blaine smiled slightly, leaning in and pressing a soft kiss against Kurt's cheek. He turned the other boy around, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend's waist and pulling Kurt close.

"This is all I want right now." Blaine closed his eyes as he felt Kurt's arms wrapping around his shoulders and one of Kurt's hands playing in Blaine's hair.

"I like this… but we can't just leave your clothes packed up. They'll wrinkle…"

"Only you would be worried about wrinkled clothing when your boyfriend is moving in and you're about to be home alone with him," Finn commented as he walked back into the room. "I found a couple of hangers… apparently someone did laundry recently because there are more clothes in there than normal."

"Your mom washed three or four loads yesterday. You're lucky she puts things away for you, or you would never have anything to wear," Kurt replied. He and Blaine pulled away from each other as Finn dropped the hangers on the foot of the bed.

"I'll leave you two alone… just don't do anything while I'm still here, okay? I don't want to hear sex noises or anything like that."

"We wouldn't do that with you in the other room… that's too much like exhibitionism for my tastes," Kurt replied. "Besides, Blaine and I have a little more control over our hormones than you do."

"Didn't you guys get caught having sex over here less than a week ago?"

"We didn't get caught… we were fully clothed before anyone got home. Dad just overheard us talking about it afterwards."

"Whatever," Finn replied. "Just keep it PG while I'm home, okay? PG-13, max."

"Don't worry, Finn… I'm not going to seduce your stepbrother while you're in the house," Blaine interjected before Kurt came back with some kind of sarcastic comment.

"That's all I ask." Finn backed out of the room with his hands up, but Blaine and Kurt were a little distracted by looking at each other.

"He's just afraid that hearing us is going to turn him on and that's somehow going to make him gay," Kurt replied. Blaine nodded, reaching up and touching his boyfriend's cheek for a moment. "Let's get your stuff put away, since you promised not to seduce me while my brother was around… not that it really takes much seducing."

"Sure… let's just get this part done. I'm ready to just relax."


	11. Chapter 11

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: So I know it took a bit longer to get this chapter up – it's because I don't have chapters pre-written anymore, so I'm writing them as I have time. And I don't have that much time, thanks to school and work. But here's a new chapter for you!**

Blaine didn't remember falling asleep in Kurt's room, but when he woke up that was where he was, with Burt Hummel standing in the doorway watching the two of them. "While I appreciate you leaving the door open this time, I'd really prefer it if you two didn't sleep in the same bed while you're here."

"Okay… I didn't realize I'd fallen asleep…" Blaine muttered, hurrying to stand up.

"It's not a big deal… you're not in trouble, okay? We haven't talked about rules yet. Why don't you go get some sleep, and we can all sit down and talk about everything in the morning." Blaine nodded, walking past Burt and down towards his own room.

Blaine got ready for bed quickly; brushing his teeth was still kind of a pain, but he was getting used to it. Finally he threw on a pair of pajama pants and climbed into the guest bed, burying himself under the covers.

Even though Blaine was exhausted, he didn't fall asleep right away. Too many things were going through his head at once; moving in with the Hummels had been a bit of a last-minute thing, and there were so many aspects of that he hadn't considered yet. Like the fact that he was living with Kurt and Kurt's family now that he and Kurt were sleeping together. It wasn't exactly an ideal situation now that Blaine thought about it – while Burt was a nice enough guy, he did have a shotgun. And Blaine felt pretty sure that if he ever did anything to hurt Kurt, that shotgun would be pointed at him.

Plus there was also his father's upcoming trial. The man still maintained that he hadn't done anything and that Blaine was just making things up. But a broken jaw wasn't something he could easily fabricate, and no one other than his father's lawyer actually believed that load of shit. Blaine couldn't think about anything other than the fact that he would have to testify – possibly with his jaw still wired shut. And that prospect terrified him.

Blaine saw four AM before he finally got up to go get something to drink, giving up on getting any more sleep. He'd spent enough time at Kurt's house to know his way around, but it wasn't until someone cleared their throat from the kitchen's doorway.

"When I said morning, I didn't think you would be up quite so early." Blaine shrugged, pouring a glass of milk as Burt came into the room and got a second glass out of the cabinet. "Everything okay?"

"Just couldn't sleep. Too many things going on in my head…" Blaine replied.

"Anything you want to talk about?" Blaine shook his head. Even though Burt was part of some of his concerns, he needed a little more time to process and think everything through. "I'm here when you're ready to talk, okay? Or Carole, or Kurt. Or even Finn, if you can pull him away from his video games long enough."

"I know. I just need some more time to think about it all… a lot has changed lately."

"I get that. It's going to take you some time to adjust… but you're strong, kid. You'll get through all of this okay. And we're here for you, if you need us."

"Why?" Blaine wasn't sure what made him ask the question, but he wanted to know.

"Why what?"

"Why do you care so much? I'm not your kid… you don't have to do any of this for me. Why?" Blaine glanced up at Burt as the man sighed.

"Because you needed somewhere to stay. Because Kurt really cares about you, and I know you care for him. Because you're a good kid, and I couldn't live with myself if I turned you away when you needed someone to be there for you," Burt replied. Blaine nodded as Burt put a hand on his shoulder. "Blaine, you deserve to have people care about you. You… I don't even know the whole story behind why it's just you and your dad, but you've put up with so much more than any seventeen year old should have to."

"My mom's in a mental hospital in Florida. She's paranoid schizophrenic… before they committed her, she had a psychotic episode and she came at me with a carving knife."

"Blaine…"

"She didn't mean it. She didn't know what she was doing at the time… when she's off her meds or they aren't just right, she can't control herself. It's something wrong with her brain… I was too young to understand most of what they were saying, and I was kind of drugged up at the time…"

"Blaine, you don't have to defend your mother… I know enough about schizophrenia to realize that your mother can't be blamed for her actions. I don't need to know all the details, okay?" Blaine nodded. "Why don't you finish your milk and try to go back to bed. I know you could use some sleep with everything that's happened lately. You need to be resting and taking care of yourself."

"I know." Blaine replied, closing his eyes.

"Don't forget… you need to make a decision about school soon. Your aunt and uncle said you had until the end of next week. We just need to know what you want to do so that we can get everything settled."

"I know." Blaine kept his eyes on the glass of milk that still sat between his hands, full.

"Why don't you finish your milk and go try to get some more sleep? A couple of hours of sleep isn't really enough," Burt commented. Blaine nodded, taking a few sips of his milk.

Blaine closed his eyes for a moment, twisting the glass of milk in his hands. "Mr. Hummel…"

"Burt."

"Burt. Thank you. For everything."


	12. Chapter 12

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: And here's a new chapter. Sorry it's taken some time… I got writer's block on this chapter and got distracted by another story idea based on what happened last week on Glee. Hope you enjoy it!**

"Blaine Anderson?" The boy stood up, followed by Burt.

"Do you want me to wait here? Or I could come in with you, if you want…" Blaine shrugged.

"Doesn't really matter."

"Why don't you wait out here, just because there isn't a whole lot of room back there. I can come get you if we need you for anything," the nurse replied. As soon as Burt nodded, she lead Blaine back through the door that separated the exam rooms from the waiting area and back to the back. "We're going to take an x-ray first, see how your jaw is healing. I doubt we'll take the wires off completely, but maybe we can loosen them up a little so that you can have a little more variety in your diet."

The x-ray portion didn't take long, and soon Blaine was seated in an exam room waiting for the doctor to actually come take a look at him. He closed his eyes as he waited, knowing that it was going to be a while. It wasn't until he felt someone shaking his shoulders that Blaine even realized that he had fallen asleep.

"Don't worry… happens all the time. How are you feeling, Blaine?"

"Tired. Ready for real food." Blaine didn't really think it was all that funny, but the doctor laughed.

"It's pretty normal. Let's take a look…" Blaine watched as the doctor put the x-ray film up on a lighted board. "Okay… it looks like things are healing. Not quite as fast as I'm sure you would have liked, but I think we should be okay to plan on taking those wires out in three weeks.

"Any chance I'm going to get these wires loosened a little?"

"I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that… you're healing, but I don't want to mess with that. I think it would be best to leave things as they are… the wires stretch a little naturally, so it should be loosening up a little at a time until they come off. How are you doing with pain? Do you need a refill or anything?"

Blaine shook his head. "I only take it at night right now."

"Good… let us know if that changes, I can always call something in for you if you run out. I'll get the nurse to schedule your next appointment in three weeks… if things are still looking good, we'll remove the wires then." Blaine nodded, trying not to sigh. "Hey… this is a bump in the road, okay? A few more weeks with the wires, a month or so of physical therapy, and you'll be fine."

"Don't forget braces. Again." That was probably what upset Blaine the most. He'd barely gotten his first set of braces off before he started high school, and now two years later he was going to be getting them again to fix the damage his father had caused.

"Right. But that isn't immediately necessary. In fact, it would probably be best for you to wait until you aren't sore and you've finished physical therapy. But we'll talk about all of that in more depth at your next appointment… you don't need to worry too much about it all right now. Just try and focus on taking care of yourself so your bones can heal properly."

Blaine followed the doctor back to the waiting area as he instructed the receptionist on when she could schedule Blaine for another appointment. Thankfully it only took a few minutes for Burt and the receptionist to get an appointment scheduled.

"So, I'm guessing no changes?"

"He didn't want to mess with things… I don't think it's healing as well as he'd hoped, but he didn't say that."

"But he still thinks he'll be able to take off the wires in three weeks, doesn't he?" Burt asked.

"He said maybe." Blaine stared out the windshield of the truck as they drove down the road.

"If they don't come off then, you'll have to start school with your jaw wired shut, right?" Blaine nodded. "You going to be okay with that? I know you wanted to have things kind of back to normal before you went back to Dalton… if you go back to Dalton, that is."

"I'll have to be okay with it. But I still don't know about Dalton…"

"It's entirely your decision, okay? Your aunt and uncle just want you to be happy, and Carole and I are behind whatever decision you make… you're welcome to that bedroom for as long as you need it, no matter what happens." Blaine nodded.

"I know… thank you."

"Do you want me to drop you at the house to get some rest, or would you rather come to the shop and hang out with Finn and Kurt while they work?"

"I hate to make you go out of your way…" Blaine replied.

"It's no problem… I don't want you to get stuck at the shop all day, and unfortunately I need both of the boys working to keep up with everything. All the college kids are bringing their cars in right now to have them serviced before they head back to school."

"I can help… do something." Blaine watched as Burt nodded.

"We could use the extra hands… you and your dad rebuilt a car once, didn't you?" Blaine nodded. "Okay. It doesn't pay much… Finn and Kurt get eight an hour, and I can pay you the same. If things get slow you three will be the first to go home, okay?"

"Okay."

Once they got to the shop, Burt and Blaine got through the hiring paperwork pretty quickly and Burt got Blaine a set of coveralls to wear before he gave him a car to change the oil and rotate the tires on. Blaine knew that it was one of the easier tasks Burt could give him, but he was thankful for having _something_ to keep himself occupied until he had schoolwork to worry about.

"You look good in navy blue." Blaine turned as he heard Kurt's voice, smiling slightly. "I see my dad recruited you to work, too."

"I offered," Blaine replied, making his way over to the car he was supposed to be working on. He leaned over and pressed a kiss against Kurt's lips. "I need to get to work. We'll talk tonight."

The work wasn't that difficult, but it was enough to keep his mind off of everything else going on until Burt told him to finish up and head home with Finn and Kurt. All three of them squeezed into the cab of Finn's truck, with Blaine sitting between the step-brothers. He let his head rest on Kurt's shoulder as they drove, trying not to fall asleep to the gentle vibrations of the truck. He wasn't completely asleep before Burt and Kurt started talking.

"I didn't know Blaine knew anything about cars…" Finn began.

"He and his dad rebuilt a car a few summers ago. Blaine thinks it was a way to turn him straight." Blaine could hear the disgust in Kurt's voice, even though he was clearly trying to hide it.

"That… doesn't make any sense. I mean, you know more about cars than anyone else our age I've ever met, and you're gay."

"Blaine's dad didn't know that. And clearly it didn't work, seeing as Blaine is now my boyfriend." Blaine felt Kurt gently squeezing his shoulders as he spoke. "As much as I hate the pain his father has put him through, I'm glad it didn't change him. Even if his father can't love him the way he is, I do. I really do love him."

"I love you, too…" Blaine whispered. He wasn't sure if anyone heard him, but he didn't really care. Knowing that Kurt loved him as much as he loved Kurt was enough.


	13. Chapter 13

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: Woot, new chapter! This is brought to you courtesy of the fact that my paper due Monday was a LOT shorter and easier than I thought it was going to be.**

The first day of school came faster than anyone realized it would, and Blaine wasn't happy at all about that fact. He'd made his choice just in time – he would go to McKinley because it was more convenient for everyone and he really didn't want to go to Dalton and have to explain to the Warblers why he couldn't rehearse with them for a while. But unfortunately the doctor hadn't been happy with how much his jaw had healed, so he was still stuck with his jaw wired shut. All of his teachers were supposed to know what was going on, but Blaine still couldn't help but worry as he had breakfast that things would go wrong and he would be asked to explain himself or something.

"You look as though you're about to walk into your own execution or something. McKinley really isn't _that_ bad," Kurt commented, squeezing Blaine's hand.

"I remember my old school… it _was_ that bad…"

"Things at McKinley got better when Dave stopped harassing people and started fighting against bullying. It's still not perfect, but I promise you it isn't anything like your old school… other than what Dave did, the worst I ever got was being thrown in a dumpster."

"Slushie facials aren't exactly fun, either," Finn commented. Blaine could feel his eyes going wide.

"Dumpster dives are worse. You've never had to deal with that," Kurt replied.

"In case I haven't said it before, I am sorry about that…"

"You at least let me take off my designer jackets before the others threw me in."

"Wait… Finn, you…" Blaine began.

"He never actually touched me, and he stopped some of the worst of it. But he was involved in some of it, before he joined the glee club and knew what it was like to be treated like that," Kurt explained, cutting off Blaine's question before he could even completely ask it.

"Don't worry, though… if anything happens, there are four guys from glee club on the football team now, and the other guys know better than to mess with anyone in glee after Sam, Artie, and Mike took on Karofsky last year. And the whole club has your back. I talked to the guys and Kurt talked to most of the girls, so they know you're coming and that you might join New Directions once your jaw has healed."

Even though Finn was trying to comfort him, the football player's words didn't really make him feel any better about what he was about to face. Blaine did his best to finish his breakfast, but it wasn't exactly easy with his stomach churning like crazy. The last thing Blaine really wanted was to be forced to cut the wires so that he could get sick.

"You boys need to hurry up and get to school… you're going to be late on the first day if you sit around talking for much longer." Blaine started cleaning up from his breakfast as soon as Burt spoke, knowing that he wouldn't get anything else in his stomach right then. "Blaine, there's some soup in the fridge from last night. Carole thought you might want that for your lunch today, since they probably won't have anything you can eat in the cafeteria." Blaine nodded, getting an insulated lunch bag out of the cabinet next to the fridge and grabbing the container of soup and a spoon to put in it.

"I'm driving separately… football practice starts today," Finn commented as he cleaned up his own breakfast.

"Okay… Kurt, if you and Blaine want to work a few hours at the shop this afternoon come on over after school. I'm sure I can find something for you to do if you'd like the hours on your paychecks."

"We'll call you when school gets out and let you know… I have a feeling that Madame Samuels is going to give us a massive translation assignment in AP French."

"Just let me know… school comes first, but I've got enough work at the shop until the college kids are back to school for as many hands as I can get."

The boys all hurried out to the vehicles within a couple of minutes, with Blaine climbing into the passenger's seat of Kurt's Navigator. "You look pale…" Blaine smiled slightly as Kurt reached over and squeezed his hand. "Is everything okay?"

"I'm just nervous."

"Nervous? About what?" Kurt asked. Blaine shrugged, not really feeling up to explaining himself. "If it's because of what we were talking about earlier, you really don't have to worry. Dave seriously changed when I went back to McKinley, and he was the worst of the bullies."

"I'm still the new kid. And I'm kind of a freak…"

"We're all freaks, Blaine. Trust me, even with fading bruises and difficulty talking, you're still not going to be the strangest looking person at school."

"People are going to stare…"

"They would stare even if you weren't hurt. It'll stop eventually… and everyone in New Directions is going to be here for you. Finn and I talked to everyone – they're all really excited that you might be joining us, and they have your back if anything happens."

"I don't know if I'm ready for this…" Blaine commented, closing his eyes as Kurt backed out of the driveway and started towards the school.

"Hey, there's always the option of going back to Dalton. Your aunt said that if things didn't work out, she would get everything sorted out with the trust fund to have your tuition paid by the end of this week."

"But I would have to leave you…"

"But I would still see you on the weekends, and I wouldn't ask you to stay at McKinley if it makes you uncomfortable or upset. I want you to be happy, too," Kurt replied. "No matter how much you love me, you have to do what's best for you. But I do think you should give it a chance before you decide anything."

"I'm not going to leave without giving it a shot. Not after everything you and your family have done to help make this happen… I'm just nervous."

"It's understandable. I was nervous on my first day back, after I left Dalton. I didn't know what to expect, and I didn't want things to go back to the way they had been before my dad found out about Dave's threats. But Dave really has changed… I know it's only because Santana is blackmailing him, but still. He can be a decent guy. And he has apologized."

"I nearly fought him… do you really think he's going to treat me the same way he treats you?" Blaine asked.

"As long as you aren't a threat to him, he's not going to hurt you. And you wouldn't out him, so you're not a threat to his status quo. You don't have anything to worry about from him."

"But what about the others?"

"I don't know. But they weren't nearly as bad as Dave…" Blaine felt Kurt squeeze his hand. "You're going to be fine. You just need to get used to public school again, and you'll get it. And I won't be the least bit offended if you don't want to kiss me or hold my hand at school, because I know you've had a bad experience with that in the past." Blaine smiled slightly, feeling a bit better about everything.

"What would I do without you?"


	14. Chapter 14

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: I don't really have anything to say… so I guess I'll just say enjoy!**

Despite the stares, it hadn't been a bad day. Burt had spoken to all of Blaine's teachers before the first day of school to make sure they understood his situation and that it might be difficult for him to do a lot of talking for the first couple of days of school. And the other students mostly just ignored him, although a couple of people did ask what had happened. Blaine had mumbled something about a baseball accident. The only real regret Blaine had was that he hadn't driven himself to school so that he could go home without having to wait for Kurt to get done with glee rehearsal.

"Damn Prep School… I knew you would lose weight with that jaw thing, but I didn't think it would look quite so bad on you…" Blaine rolled his eyes.

"Thanks, Santana…"

"Leave him alone, Santana… he's had enough the past few weeks without having to listen to you telling him he looks like shit," Kurt added, gracefully dropping into the chair next to Blaine's and grabbing the other boy's hand. Thanks to the fact that Blaine was a year behind his boyfriend, the two had barely even had time to smile at each other in the halls. They didn't have any classes together at all.

"Alright, guys, we have to get started. This is going to be a tough year… we need to place at Nationals this year to keep things going, which means that we have to work _twice_ as hard as last year. Which is why we're getting started now, and we're doubling up on rehearsals – two hours, twice a week. Plus extra dance rehearsals for everyone who needs them. Blaine, I know you can't sing right now, but if you're going to join us I'd like for you to be here anyway… it'll give you time to get used to how we do things and make it easier for you to learn the music when you can actually sing with us." Blaine started to nod, until he heard someone speaking up.

"Sorry… but doesn't anyone else feel a Jesse St. Jerkoff repeat potential here? No offense, Blaine, but you're not the first person to transfer from a rival club and we've been burned before… how do we know you aren't going to pull something like that on us, too?" Artie asked.

"Blaine is living with me and Finn, Artie. Not to mention our relationship didn't start under false pretenses, and _he_ wanted me to come back to McKinley because he knew it would make me happy," Kurt replied. Blaine smiled slightly as Kurt squeezed his hand. "I trust him."

"I do, too." Blaine turned and smiled at Finn as the football player spoke up. "Trust me, Blaine isn't like Jesse. He might still have friends at Dalton, but he's a good guy. He'll play fair."

"They wouldn't want to win by cheating. I know the Warblers… they want to win honestly. They wouldn't be proud of themselves if they didn't win based on their merits," Blaine added, hoping that the members of New Directions would be able to understand him.

"Okay. So now that we have all of that settled, let's get to work."

By the time rehearsals ended that afternoon, even Blaine was exhausted. Granted, he had already been tired before glee – and even though he hadn't been able to sing, he had been dancing along with everyone else as much as possible so that he wouldn't be too far behind when he was actually allowed to officially join the glee club.

"Alright… good work today guys! We've got Booty Camp starting Wednesday, and I want _everyone_ here for the first session. Those of you that don't need the extra help will be excused from other sessions, but I need to see all of you in action first."

"Mr. Schue… most of us have been with you for two years already. With the exception of Blaine, I'm pretty sure you know exactly who can and can't dance," Puck replied.

"I have some idea, yes. But I want to make sure I know where all of you are before I make my final decision on whether or not you need to be at Booty Camp. Don't forget your sheet music!" Blaine carefully tucked the music into his backpack as Kurt waited for him.

"So, what does your homework load look like? Because mine is kind of scary… I don't think I'm going to be able to work this afternoon after all," Kurt commented.

"Not bad… but I'm really tired," Blaine admitted. He let Kurt hold his hand as they walked out towards Kurt's car, something Blaine would have avoided if there had still been a lot of other students around. He just wasn't sure he could handle having people talking about _that_, too.

"So, did you hear any of the conspiracy theories about how you broke your jaw?" Blaine raised an eyebrow, not knowing what his boyfriend was talking about. "You might not have heard it, but about half of the people here were talking about you today."

"Oh, God…"

"One girl told me that you got in a fight with one of the Hell's Angels at a bar. Someone else said that you got hurt in some kind of mixed martial arts fight…"

"I don't really want to hear their theories…" Blaine didn't mean for his words to come out quite as harsh as they did, and he sighed when he realized that it sounded like he was snapping at the other boy. "I'm sorry… I'm just tired. And I really don't want this attention…"

"I know. I'm sorry. I'll talk about something else."

"Can we just… not talk? I just want to close my eyes for a few minutes in the car, and then I need to do my homework," Blaine replied.

"No, I get it… it's been a long day. You have a lot of stuff to get used to at McKinley." Blaine could hear that Kurt was still at least a little hurt as they got into the car.

"Hey… it'll get better. I just need to get some rest. Some _real_ rest, not the passing out from exhaustion that I've been doing lately because I can't really sleep with all this shit in my mouth."

"I didn't know… why can't you sleep?" Kurt asked. Blaine shrugged.

"It still aches some at night… it keeps me up."

"Why haven't you told anyone about that? Why aren't you taking the pain medicine if it's keeping you up at night?" Kurt sounded more worried than angry, and Blaine was thankful about that.

"I don't like the way it tastes or how tired it makes me feel… and the over the counter stuff doesn't do anything most of the time," Blaine admitted.

"You've got to tell us stuff like this, Blaine…"

"I know. But do you really think I want to worry your parents any more than I already do? I shouldn't be their problem…"

"They chose to make your issues their problem," Kurt interrupted. "They care about you almost as much as I do, Blaine. Even if they weren't your guardians right now, they would still be worried about you if they knew what was going on. And I would tell them about it." Blaine closed his eyes, thinking about what Kurt had said as they drove back to the house.


	15. Chapter 15

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: Hmm… what will this chapter bring? Well, you'll find out…**

Blaine was exhausted; he had gone to most of his classes, before Burt had picked him up for a trip to the doctor's office. What should have taken no more than an hour had lasted all afternoon, and they had just gotten home while Kurt and Carole were making dinner. It wouldn't have been that bad, if it wasn't for the fact that taking the wires out had made his jaw start aching. Blaine hadn't even said a word before he'd gone up and collapsed across his bed – the medication they had given him at the doctor's office for the pain was pretty strong, and he had been fighting sleep the entire ride home.

"So, no more wires?" Blaine smiled as he heard Kurt's voice, even though he really just wanted to sleep. He didn't even bother to open his eyes.

"No more wires." Blaine felt a soft kiss against his lips.

"I'll let you sleep until dinner. I just had to come do that." Blaine fell asleep with a smile on his face.

Blaine groaned as someone shook him slightly. "You should wake up… dinner's ready, and you can actually eat real food for a change." He opened his eyes to Kurt's face smiling down at him.

"I'd rather just sleep… I'm so tired…"

"You need to eat something… you lost a lot of weight when you had your jaw wired shut, and you're underweight now."

"I'm also exhausted from the pain medication they gave me at the doctor's office… food and sleep are both kind of essential, and right now my body wants to sleep more. I'll reheat some of the leftovers when I wake up," Blaine replied, closing his eyes again.

"Please… it's ten minutes. Just eat a little bit and then come back up here to go back to sleep." Blaine was about to protest when his stomach growled in protest over the fact that it was empty. "See? Even your stomach is saying it's time to eat."

"Fine. Food, then sleep. Homework can wait until later." Blaine got out of bed, putting an arm around Kurt's waist as they started towards the dining room downstairs.

"We made mashed potatoes… I don't know if you can eat the chicken, but the other vegetables should be okay. Hopefully you'll be able to eat some real food soon," Kurt replied. Blaine smiled, glad that Burt had mentioned that he still couldn't eat a whole lot because his jaw would be sore for a while.

"That sounds good." The two made their way downstairs and sat down at the dinner table with the rest of the family.

"Can we eat now? I'm starving…"

"Finn, when are you _not_ starving?" Carole asked as everyone started serving their plates and passing dishes around from one person to the next. Blaine chose carefully, making sure not to get anything that would require too much chewing.

"I'm a growing boy!"

"You're already over six feet tall, Finn… I'm not sure you have a whole lot of growing left to do," Kurt replied. Everyone seemed to stop talking so that they could eat at that point; whatever would have normally passed as dinner conversation had clearly happened while Blaine was upstairs asleep.

Blaine did his best to chew his food, but he mostly ate the potatoes because they didn't really require any chewing. Everything else required at least a little bit of work on his part, and Blaine hadn't realized how sore his jaw was going to be when he tried to eat. It wasn't long before he put down his silverware and started to push back from the table. "May I be excused?"

"Are you sure, sweetie? You didn't finish your beans…" Carole began.

"I'm just having some trouble chewing… my jaw is still really sore."

"Dude, that has to suck… I don't know that I could do the whole not being able to eat anything normally or anything like that…" Finn added.

"It does suck."

"Go ahead, kid. Get yourself some sleep."

* * *

><p>Blaine woke up long before his alarm clock rang the next morning, surprised by the fact that he could actually yawn. It was still a little sore, but at least he could open his mouth – a major improvement over what he had been dealing with for the past several weeks. It had been almost eight weeks… eight weeks since his father had tried to beat the shit out of him in a drunken rage. And while the bruising had gone away, the incision on the side of his face and the horribly misaligned teeth in his mouth still proved that something bad had happened to him recently. Blaine just hoped that the scar would go away and that he wouldn't be stuck in braces for too long to fix his teeth. But that was still going to be a while – the surgeon had told Burt not to bother with orthodontia until his jaw had been given some more time to heal and he wasn't still in pain.<p>

It was still early – a little before six AM – and Blaine didn't particularly want to get out of the bed despite the fact that he was awake. He had thought that things were going to get better once the wires came off and he didn't feel quite as much like a freak. But now, less than 24 hours after the wires were taken off, Blaine just felt as though he was even more of a freak than ever. His father was probably going to jail, his mother was in a mental institution… and the only thing Blaine wanted was the one thing he couldn't have. Blaine wanted a normal family, one with a mother and a father and none of the insanity that his life had turned into. Blaine had a hard time stopping the tears from sliding down his face as he lay there, thinking about the shitty turn of events that had changed his life.

Blaine wasn't sure how long he'd been lying there, but he did know that someone was knocking on his bedroom door. "Blaine? It's time to wake up… time to get ready for school." Blaine sat up, wiping away the tears from his face as he got out of bed to get ready. There were more knocks on the door. "Blaine?"

"I'm up…" Blaine grabbed some clean clothes – somehow he hadn't ever changed into pajamas or anything the night before – and opened the door to head down the hall to the bathroom.

"Hey… everything okay?" Burt asked. Blaine hadn't expected him to still be standing there when he opened the door. Blaine just nodded, sighing and heading down the hall to the bathroom without saying a word. He didn't want to talk about it – he just wanted to go to school and get through the day without breaking down and losing it.

The shower helped, but Blaine still didn't feel that great. He just wanted to crawl back in bed and forget about school for a while, to ignore the fact that he needed to get things done and just let himself be miserable for a while.

"Dad said you seemed like you weren't feeling well when he woke you up this morning." Blaine hadn't even noticed Kurt standing in the hall by his doorway until the other boy spoke. "Is everything okay?" Blaine shook his head. "Talk to me… what's wrong?"

"I just… I haven't dealt with all of this yet. It's sort of felt like it was all in my head before now. And I… I just wish my life were normal. I wish my mom wasn't crazy and my dad wasn't going to jail…"

"You wish your dad wasn't going to jail?"

"I wish he hadn't done this… that he hadn't gotten drunk and lost it. I want my life back… the one where I was just the guy with a single father and an amazing boyfriend at a different school. The one where I could be _normal_. I'm not going to be that guy any more, ever. I'll always be the guy whose dad beat him – because that's what everyone is going to think. Even though it only happened one time, everyone is going to assume that it was happening my whole life. I'll always be that guy who everyone gives pitying looks because his family is so fucked up…" Blaine stopped, sighing at the pain in his jaw from talking so much. "I don't think I can do this today."

Blaine felt a strong hand grasp his shoulder from behind and turned around to find that Burt had been listening the whole time. "Go back to bed, kid. Get some rest. We'll talk later."


	16. Chapter 16

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: So I managed to write this fairly quickly, and I'm happy with it. Hopefully I haven't left you in suspense for too long with this one, and you'll all be happy with this! Enjoy!**

Blaine sort of felt bad when he woke up a few hours later. He hadn't meant to break down on Kurt and his father that morning – to be honest, he hadn't meant to break down at all. But it had happened, and Burt had let him stay home from school to relax and try to deal with whatever was going on in his head. Blaine hadn't meant to unload on them, but somehow it had just happened.

The trek downstairs didn't take long enough for Blaine's taste. He wasn't quite ready to face Burt Hummel and the questions that he knew would follow his earlier behavior, but Blaine knew that he had to deal with it eventually. He sighed as he saw Burt sitting in the recliner in the living room, looking over a magazine.

"How are you feeling, kid?"

"Better… I think I just needed to say those things, get them out of my system," Blaine replied, walking over towards the couch. He sat down, keeping as far away from Burt as possible.

"That didn't sound like something that you just needed to get out of your system, Blaine. That sounded like it was something pretty serious that you still needed to work through… something that I'm not sure I'm capable of helping you with. I don't think that any of us are quite prepared to help you with all of this." Blaine felt the blood draining from his face.

"You think I'm crazy?"

"No. I think you need someone to talk to other than Kurt about what's going on. You said some things this morning that we don't know how to handle, and I think it would be best for you to have someone to talk to who can deal with all of that," Burt replied.

"You don't want to call me crazy, but you still want me to talk to a shrink?"

"You aren't crazy, Blaine. You're seventeen years old, and your parents have put you through hell… and your mom might not have meant what she did, but your dad should have known better. He has an alcohol problem that makes him violent, and you got hurt because he didn't deal with it properly. That's a lot to deal with for anyone, Blaine, and sometimes the best thing you can do with a situation like that is talk about it with someone else."

Blaine sighed, closing his eyes and letting his head rest against the back of the couch. "I… I don't want people to think I'm crazy…"

"You don't have to tell anyone outside of this house if you don't want to. And we will all back you up if that's what you choose to do."

"But I don't get a choice about going, do I?"

"Blaine, you _need_ to talk to someone about all of this. Whether you realize it or not, you've been forced to take on a lot more than any teenager should ever have to deal with. And I've watched it tear you apart over the past couple of months… it's time to start getting a handle on all of this." Blaine sighed, starting to stand up and go back up to his room. "Where are you going?"

"I'm getting my books. I assumed that you waited around to sign me in late, after our little talk…"

"I waited around to make sure you were okay. If you want to go to school, I'll sign you in. But I'm not going to make you go to school if you aren't feeling up to it… I don't want you at school if it's going to make you feel even worse than you already do." Blaine stopped walking, surprised that Burt was actually willing to let him miss the entire day. "Education is important, but your health is my number one priority. And that includes your mental health. I'm going to make some calls, see if I can get you an appointment with someone to talk about what's going on."

"Okay."

* * *

><p>Blaine felt awkward, sitting in a chair and staring across at a woman who simply sat there, hands folded, staring back at him. "While you don't have to talk to me, Blaine, don't you think it would be a waste of your time to sit here for the next forty minutes in silence?" It seemed like an innocent enough question, but that didn't mean that Blaine wanted to answer it.<p>

"I don't know what you want me to say."

"Why don't you tell me about yourself, your family…"

"My family isn't something I ever want to talk about," Blaine replied, cutting her off.

"Okay. But why? Do you not get along with your family?" Blaine sighed; he knew what she was doing – it was pretty obvious. But it was just easier to answer her questions instead of ignoring them.

"My father hated me, and he didn't try very hard to hide that fact. I think my mother was only sane enough to love me for maybe a year when I was about ten, before she lost touch with reality again and tried to kill me. I'm not allowed to see her unless she's so heavily medicated that I'm not sure she even knows who I am…"

"She's psychotic?" the woman asked.

"Paranoid schizophrenia. She was diagnosed not long after my parents got married… she was okay until I was about three, and then they started messing with her medication because she was hallucinating again. They couldn't find anything that worked very well, but the worst was right towards the end when she stopped taking anything because the voices in her head told her it was all poison. She…" Blaine had to stop telling the story, closing his eyes and trying to keep the memories bottled up, at least a little bit, so that he wouldn't break down. Somehow, this was more difficult than telling Kurt.

"Take your time… we have plenty of it."

"I was ten. I don't remember everything – the doctors said I might never remember it all, that it was too traumatic – but I remember being on the ground, with my mom standing over me with a butcher knife. And it hurt, so badly… all I could smell was blood, and she was just standing there with this crazy look in her eyes and all I could think was that I was going to die. And then my dad was holding her down and I just ran until I couldn't move anymore… one of the neighbors found me on her front porch and called 911. By the time I knew what was going on again, my mom was in a hospital in Miami."

"She'd stabbed you."

"She'd tried to take off my arm at the shoulder… if she'd had a little longer, just another minute or so, they would have ended up having to amputate my arm." Blaine took a deep breath. "I don't see what good it does for you to know any of that… why you need to know what my mother did to me."

"Because it will help me understand where you are. The more I understand about what you've been through, the better I can help you deal with the scars your parents left you with. It's important that we talk about all of the things that lead up to this point so that we can figure out ways to deal with what's hurting you."

"So does this mean I'm crazy? Like my mother?"

"You definitely aren't crazy, Blaine. I know that you don't like the idea of being in therapy, but the best way to protect your sanity is to deal with these issues now, before things get out of control," the woman replied.

"Can we just stop for today? My jaw hurts, I just really want to go home…"

"I understand. We can call it a day. But I'd like to see you again next week… I think it would be a good idea, just for a while."

"What do you think is wrong with me?" Blaine asked.

"I think you're depressed. I think you have issues that you need to work through, and I want to give you a safe place to do that. But I won't force you into anything, alright? This is only if _you_ want to do this." Blaine nodded.

"Okay."


	17. Chapter 17

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: Another chapter down. Don't hate me for the fact that you don't get answers… they'll come in time. **

Blaine closed his eyes, trying his best to avoid the tears that he knew were coming. "It's okay to cry, Blaine. It's okay to let it all out… it might do you some good." Blaine shook his head as the therapist moved towards him, kneeling next to his chair and putting a hand on top of his. He felt as though he was going to break down. "I'm going to go talk to Burt for a minute, okay? I know our hour is up, but I'm going to see if we can keep going until we've worked through this and you're feeling better… I'm not sending you home like this." Blaine nodded, pulling his knees up towards his chest and letting his head rest against them.

Blaine could hear the therapist talking to Burt in hushed tones from the doorway. "Is he okay?"

"Not right now. I'm not comfortable sending Blaine home just yet… I know that our time is up, but I'm not sure what he's going to do if I let you take him home."

"You think he's a danger to himself?"

"He could be. I need another hour or so with him, just to see what we can do to fix this." Blaine bit down on his bottom lip, shaking his head and getting to his feet.

"I want to go home now… I don't want to talk any more…" he began, picking up his jacket and starting towards the door.

"Blaine, I know this hurts… but we _need _to work through it…" Blaine shook his head, starting to put his jacket on.

"Blaine, Dr. Benson is right… you need to get help."

"I'm _done_." Blaine watched as Burt nodded.

"Okay."

"I want you to call me, Blaine…" Dr. Benson began. Blaine watched as she hurried over to the desk in the corner and pulling a card out of a box. "I know you already have this, but I'm giving it to you again. I want you to call me, any time of the day or night… this is my answering service, and I will call you back no matter what time it is. If you're ready to talk, if you think you might do something to hurt yourself, you _need_ to call me." Blaine nodded, taking the card. He slid it into his pocket, sighing and nodding. "I wish you would stay and talk to me, Blaine… I want to help you."

"I don't want to talk."

"I know. But when you're ready, I'll be here." Blaine nodded as the woman put a hand on his shoulder.

"Okay. Let's go home." Blaine followed Burt downstairs and out to the car. They were silent, until they were in the car. "I don't think this is a good idea, Blaine."

"_Please_ don't lecture me… not today."

"Will you at least tell me what's going on, please? You've been through hell, and I want to help. But I can't do that if you're going to clam up on everyone as soon as something painful comes up…" Burt began.

"_Painful_ doesn't even begin to cover this…" Blaine whispered, closing his eyes. He couldn't even think through what had come up during his therapy session… it was just too much.

"Blaine?"

"I _can't_ talk about it. I can't even _think_ about it…"

"What happened that was so bad you can't even bear to think about it, Blaine? What did he do to you that was so bad you can't even bring yourself to deal with it?" Burt asked.

"It wasn't my dad. And I don't want to talk about this right now… not now, not _ever_. I just want to forget again. I wish I hadn't ever agreed to any of this." Blaine leaned his head against the window, his eyes closed. He pulled away as Burt put a hand on his knee, pulling his legs up towards his chest and wrapping his arms around them again. "Please don't."

"Okay." The remainder of the ride home was silent, and Blaine spent most of it going over music in his head so that he wouldn't have to think about any of the things that had been uncovered in his session with the therapist. It wasn't until they were sitting in the driveway that Burt spoke again. "Don't shut everyone out, kid. You're going to hurt yourself and a lot of people around you if you don't deal with all of this at some point soon. We all want to help you, but we can't do that if you won't let us." Blaine sighed, closing his eyes.

"I know… but I can't deal with this. This is too big, and I'm not going to put this on any of you…"

"You can't do this on your own…"

"I don't have a choice." Blaine was out of the car and halfway to the front door before he realized that he had even moved. He didn't stop, practically running through the front hallway and up the stairs to his room. He closed the door, choosing not to lock it and collapsing across the bed.

Blaine felt like he couldn't breathe; all he could do was let the tears fall down his face and try his best to stifle his sobs. By the time he stopped, his chest was aching and all Blaine could do was sit there and try to deal with what was going on.

"Blaine?" He looked up at the door, not at all surprised to see Kurt standing there looking at him. "Are you okay?"

Blaine shook his head, reaching up and trying to wipe away the tears. "Please… just leave me alone. Just go away, let me deal with this on my own. I can't do this to you. I can't… I can't tell you this secret, because I can't bear the thought of you knowing how fucked up I really am…"

"Blaine…"

"Just go!"

Blaine wasn't sure how long he sat there alone, trying to pull himself together. At some point he knew that Carole came in, leaving a plate of food on the dresser that Blaine didn't touch. A little later, he heard everyone moving around upstairs, presumably going to bed. He could see Burt glancing in at him through the open door, but the man didn't say a word or push him for information again.

Blaine didn't remember walking down to the kitchen or opening the drawer, but he did notice the knife in his hand. He put it down on the counter, reaching into his pocket and pulling out Dr. Benson's card. His hands shook as he dialed the number, bringing the phone to his ear.

"I… I need to speak to Dr. Benson… it's an emergency…" Blaine watched his phone as he waited for it to ring again. It sat on the counter a few inches away from the knife, almost as if the two were mocking him.

Blaine picked up the phone before the first ring had even finished. "_Blaine? Blaine, are you okay?_"

"I… I was wrong. There's a knife, and I…" Blaine couldn't finish his sentence, his fingers curling around the handle.

"_Blaine, I want you to put the knife down and I want you to walk away. Where are you right now?_"

"The k-kitchen…" Blaine felt his grip tighten around the handle of the knife as he spoke.

"_I want you to put the knife down on the counter, Blaine, and then I want you to back away_."

"I can't…" Blaine whispered.

"_Yes, Blaine, you can…_"

"Blaine? What are you doing up?" Blaine turned at the sound of Burt's voice. He still had the knife in his hand, and he could see the fear that crossed the man's face. "Blaine… put the knife down…

"I'm not going to hurt you…" Blaine felt his grip tighten around the knife handle for a moment, before it slipped out of his hand and fell to the ground. Blaine shook his head, trying to fight back the tears. "I just want the pain to stop…"

"_Blaine, is someone there with you?_"

"B-Burt is…"

"_Blaine, let me talk to Burt, okay?_" Blaine held out the phone to Burt, who walked over to him. Blaine noticed that Burt purposely walked towards him so that he could kick the knife away from Blaine. Blaine sank towards the ground as Burt spoke on the phone.

"I can have him there in twenty minutes… yeah, yeah, I can do that." Blaine looked up at Burt as the man hung up the phone. "Okay, kid… let's get you up."

"Where are you taking me?"

"We're going to the hospital… Dr. Benson wants to put you on suicide watch for a day or two, try and help you get through all of this."

"I don't…" Blaine began.

"You had a knife a minute ago, and you called Dr. Benson for a reason. This isn't your decision here."


	18. Chapter 18

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: Alright, another chapter down.**

"It's at least a 24 hour hold, no matter what happens in the next few hours. I'll be here until Blaine is settled and more stable."

"And if he isn't stable enough to go home after 24 hours?" Burt asked. Blaine watched from his place on the hospital bed as his boyfriend's father and his therapist talked about him as if he wasn't even there. It was unsettling, as if they didn't think he could handle being part of this conversation.

"He can be kept here for up to 72 hours… beyond that, we need to consider other treatment options."

"And if I don't want to stay?" Blaine asked, speaking up for the first time since they had arrived in the hospital. He didn't even want to know what kind of "other treatment options" Dr. Benson meant with those comments.

"Because you're a minor, it's up to your guardians. Even if you weren't, legally we could hold you for up to 72 hours without your consent for psychiatric evaluation because you would be considered a danger to yourself at this point." Blaine closed his eyes, sighing.

"I didn't do anything…"

"You're right, you didn't do anything to hurt yourself this time. But that's only because this time you were strong enough to ask for help. But I've let you go home once, Blaine, and you went to the kitchen and nearly used a kitchen knife on yourself… I can't risk letting you go home again, knowing that." Blaine watched as Dr. Benson turned back to Burt. "Why don't you go home and get some sleep? I'm going to stay here and talk to Blaine for a while, and then they'll give him something to help him sleep."

"Should he be alone like that?"

"He won't be alone. The hospital has staff members who are much better prepared to deal with this than you are and someone will be with him at all times. Trust me, he's in good hands." Blaine watched as Burt nodded and walked out of the room, leaving him alone with Dr. Benson. She smiled at him, sitting down in a chair next to the bed. "Tell me what happened… what pushed you to that point tonight, that you thought about ending things?"

"I can't process… this is all too much…"

"Okay, relax for a minute. Take a deep breath, and just tell me what you were thinking." Blaine closed his eyes and did as he was told, trying to get his thoughts calmed down to the point that he could actually answer the doctor's question.

"I was so worried about what everyone would think… that the Hummels would hate me if they ever found out what had happened," Blaine replied. "It hurt, and I just wanted to make the pain go away…"

"But you called me instead…"

"I'd said I would call you if I wanted to hurt myself. And I didn't just want to hurt myself… I wanted to _die_. I _want_ to die, rather than telling them what happened…"

"Blaine, do you think that this was your fault?" Dr. Benson asked. Blaine thought about it for a moment before he nodded slightly.

"I could have made it stop…" he whispered.

"You were young, Blaine… she was your mother." 

"I could have said something to _someone_… they could have stopped that from happening."

"But it wasn't your responsibility to make it stop, Blaine… you were what, five the first time she hurt you? How can you be sure that you understood what was happening, that it was wrong? Because it was wrong, Blaine, but _she_ was the only one in the wrong… not you. You were _never_ in the wrong."

"It doesn't make me feel less dirty… less tainted."

"I know… I know it upsets you and that is perfectly normal. But Blaine, you have to realize that this all stopped long before you were old enough to stop it yourself. You are not responsible for your mother's actions any more than you are responsible for what your father did to you a few months ago. _She_ hurt _you_ – not the other way around."

"I still just want the pain to go away… I wish I didn't have to remember these things. I wish we had never gone there…" Blaine replied.

"I know… you weren't ready to go there yet, and I'm sorry for that. But you would have come up against this eventually, and we are going to have to work through it in order for you to get better." Blaine opened his eyes as Dr. Benson took his hand, squeezing it gently. "You're going to get through this, okay? You were strong enough to call me when you were in danger of hurting yourself, and you're strong enough to deal with this… we just need to take things slow, work through this piece by piece until you feel better about what's happened to you."

"I'm supposed to like what happened to me? Really?"

"No… but you need to accept that it did happen and that you can't change your past. Once you accept that this is part of who you are, part of what made you who you are today, then you will be able to deal with all of this and move on with your life. This is important."

"And if I'm not ready to face it?"

"You don't have to do it immediately, but it does need to be soon. The sooner you start working through all of this, the better. You're not going to get over all of this until you start dealing with it." Blaine nodded, sighing and rubbing his eyes. "I think it might be time for you to get some rest. We can talk more in the morning, after you've had a chance to think about what I've said." Blaine closed his eyes as his therapist went to the door and signaled a nurse to come into the room.

"I don't… are you going to restrain me?"

"Do I need to?" Dr. Benson asked. Blaine shook his head – he didn't want to be held down. "Then for now I won't let them restrain you. But if you do anything that makes them think you're an immediate danger to yourself, they _will_ restrain you. Understand?" Blaine nodded, closing his eyes.

"You won't leave me?"

"Not until you're asleep. And I'll be back first thing in the morning before I go to my office so that we can talk again."

"And if I'm not ready to talk again?"

"I'll be back. As many times as I need to come back, before we get through all of this. I just want you to be okay, and if that means that I have to be here all day every day until you're better, then that's what I'll do." Blaine looked up at the door as one of the nurses came into the room with a syringe. Dr. Benson held his hand as the nurse pushed the medication through the IV port in his arm and walked away. "Just try and relax… the medication won't take long to start working." Blaine could feel his eyelids getting heavy almost as soon as the therapist finished talking. "Let it work, Blaine. Just relax."


	19. Chapter 19

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: And now Kurt gets to find out what happened the night before…**

Kurt was surprised that Blaine wasn't in bed when he woke up the next morning. "He's not here, kid… we need to talk." Kurt raised an eyebrow at his father's comment.

"Where is he?"

"Let's go downstairs and talk while I make breakfast." Kurt followed his father down the stairs and into the kitchen, sitting down at the table while his father puttered around the kitchen. "Blaine's not doing too well right now, Kurt. He's been hurting pretty badly lately, and last night things got serious…"

"Is Blaine okay? Where is he? Why didn't I hear anything?" Kurt asked, jumping to his feet.

"Blaine is in the hospital, and physically he's fine. He was smart, called Dr. Benson before he did anything to hurt himself. I came down while he was on the phone with her, and she asked me to bring him in. He's on suicide watch, but he's safe now." Kurt sat back down, nodding as he thought over what was going on.

"But he didn't hurt himself?"

"No… he wanted to, but he didn't actually hurt himself. Blaine had promised Dr. Benson that he would call her if he felt like he was going to do something like that, and he followed through with it," Burt replied. Kurt closed his eyes, wondering what had been going through Blaine's mind the night before.

"Why…?"

"Kurt, there are things about Blaine's past that we don't know. And from the sound of things, Blaine didn't even remember some of them until just recently. He's in a bad place right now, but Dr. Benson is working with him to try and get him stable."

"I want to go see him."

"Maybe after school, okay? Blaine needs to focus on dealing with whatever's going on in his head right now. I'll call Dr. Benson later, see if he's up for having visitors… he's in the hospital at least until tonight, maybe for a couple of days if he can't work through it today." Kurt sighed as his father put a plate down in front of him, knowing that he was expected to eat it.

"Do you at least know what set him off?"

"No. Blaine didn't say what was going on… he said he couldn't. But whatever it is, he says it wasn't his dad that did it," Burt replied. "The best thing we can do right now is be there for Blaine, but we shouldn't push him to tell us anything."

"I would rather be with Blaine than at school right now."

"I know you would. But you being at the hospital all day isn't going to help Blaine… it might hurt him, if he doesn't feel comfortable talking in front of you. What he needs right now is to talk to Dr. Benson and try and work through whatever issues have come up." Kurt sighed, nodding and closing his eyes.

"I know. I just wish that there was something I could do for him…"

"You can be supportive when he's ready to talk to you. You can give him the space he needs right now, and when he comes home you can do whatever the doctor says we need to do to help him."

"But is it going to be enough?"

"We have to hope that it is… it's the best we can do."

* * *

><p>Blaine pulled the hospital blanket a bit tighter around his body. He was cold and tired and he wanted nothing more than to be back at Kurt's house in what had become his bed over the past few months. But that wasn't going to be happening – from what Dr. Benson said, it would still be another night before he could actually go home.<p>

"You look tired." Blaine looked up, smiling as he saw Kurt standing in the doorway.

"You're the best thing I've seen since I got here." Blaine closed his eyes as Kurt gently kissed his forehead. "I'm glad you came."

"I wasn't going to leave you here alone… I wanted to come earlier, but my dad said you needed some time with Dr. Benson and I needed to go to school."

"I would have rather had you here than her…" Blaine watched as Kurt sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed. "I'm not ready to talk about it, okay? What happened to me, what pushed me over the edge… I can't talk about it yet."

"That's okay. You don't have to tell me anything unless you want to," Kurt replied. Blaine smiled, closing his eyes and cuddling closer to Kurt's body.

"Thank you."

"But can I ask you a favor?" Blaine opened his eyes, glancing up at Kurt as the boy spoke. "Promise me you won't hurt yourself like that. Ever. And that you'll talk through all of this with Dr. Benson… I just want you to be okay." Blaine nodded.

"I know. And I'm sorry for scaring everyone… I just couldn't deal with it any more. I couldn't stand being so upset all the time, feeling like this was all my fault…"

"None of what happened to you is your fault, Blaine."

"I know that… but it doesn't stop me from feeling like I could have stopped at least some of it from happening."

"I know. And I know that you're going to blame yourself no matter what I say, until you accept the fact that there's nothing you could have done to change what happened to you," Kurt replied. Blaine closed his eyes as Kurt leaned down and pressed a kiss against his forehead. "But no matter what happens, I'm here for you. Everyone in my family is here for you, and everyone in glee… all you have to do is say the word, and someone will be there to help you through whatever is going on, okay?"

Blaine nodded. "Okay."

"Why don't you get some rest? You're tired, you said so yourself."

"I don't want to miss getting to spend time with you."

"But you need to rest. I'm going to stay for a while, okay? I'm not going to leave you alone."

"I don't want to rest, Kurt. And I'm sick of having everyone else telling me what I need to do to help myself… I just want to pretend that nothing's wrong for a little while, even just for a few minutes while you're here. I need something normal, at least for a little while."

"Then what do you want to talk about?"

"What happened at school today? Anything exciting happen in glee?"

"School was the usual… boring, monotonous. Glee was the only part of the day that provided anything interesting, and that was mostly the girls freaking out over the fact that you weren't there. But I just said that you weren't feeling well and that you'd stayed home from school… I figured they didn't need to know that you were in the hospital or that you'd thought of hurting yourself."

"Thank you for that… I don't want people to know what I did…"

"Almost did."

"I _wanted_ to do it, Kurt… I couldn't even make myself put down the knife until your dad came in and scared me. I probably would have done it, even with Dr. Benson on the phone…"

"But you didn't, Blaine. That's the important part. You didn't hurt yourself, and you were asking for help."

"Part of me still thinks it would be easier on everyone if I had just done it."


	20. Chapter 20

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: Alright, another chapter up.**

"He made a comment about wanting to die… he said he thought things might be better if he'd just committed suicide instead of calling Dr. Benson," Kurt said, crossing his arms as he and his father drove towards the hospital. Burt had agreed to let him go to the hospital to pick Blaine up.

"We have to do what we can to convince him that he's wrong… this is tough."

"I know. I just wish I knew what I could do for him. And I mean something I can actually _do_, not just being there for him. I can't lose him…"

"When was the last time you told him that?"

"I haven't… but I should. I love him, and I can't imagine my life without him…"

"Then tell Blaine, not me." Kurt nodded as Burt finally pulled into a parking spot and turned off the car. "You go ahead to the room… I'm going to talk to the nurses and deal with all the paperwork. And make sure you let him know what you told me earlier." Kurt nodded, crossing his arms and following his father into the building and onto the elevator. They were silent as they rode up to Blaine's floor, Kurt focusing on trying to figure out what he should say to his boyfriend.

Kurt hurried down the hall as soon as the elevator doors opened, knocking on the door before he pushed it open. "I heard they were springing you from this joint today…"

"They're only letting me go because they have to… they could only keep me for three days without sending me to a mental hospital."

"Clearly they think that you're doing better… I think Dr. Benson would be more than willing to put you into a hospital if that was what you needed," Kurt replied, walking over to the bed and sitting down on it next to Blaine. He watched as the boy picked at the pilling fabric silently. "Hey… I love you, okay? You're going to be okay."

"It still hurts… so much. Even with talking through it with Dr. Benson, I still want to find a way to make it stop hurting."

"Blaine…"

"Dr. Benson knows all of this. I told her that it hurts too much."

"But clearly she thinks that you're capable of dealing with it. She's letting you go home, letting you try to work through all of this on your own."

"And if I fail? If I fuck things up?" Blaine asked.

"Then we'll do everything we have to do to help you," Kurt replied. "I love you, Blaine… so much that I don't think I could handle a world without you in it. And my parents and I are going to do whatever it takes to make sure that you're okay."

"What if I don't want you to go to all that trouble for me? I'm not worth it… I don't deserve…"

"Don't say things like that, Blaine," Kurt cut the boy off, knowing that Blaine was going to blame himself for everything that had happened to him.

"I'm damaged goods, Kurt. Why you would ever want me…"

"I want you because I'm in love with you. It's that simple… nothing you say is going to make me change my mind about that. You're just upset over something right now, but once you get through this you'll realize that you're wrong when you say that you don't deserve to be loved." Kurt watched as Blaine closed his eyes, sighing.

"You can't force me to be okay by telling me why I'm wrong."

"That's not what I'm trying to do, Blaine. I'm just trying to make sure that you know how I feel," Kurt replied. He turned so that he was facing Blaine head-on, grabbing both of the boy's hands and squeezing them gently. "I love you. I want nothing more than for you to be happy. I don't know what I would do without you, Blaine. When I met you, everything in my life changed. I wasn't alone anymore… I didn't feel like I was the only gay kid in Ohio, the only one who was putting up with the bullies and the violence. I had someone else who could understand what I was going through for the first time in my life. And I loved you from the very first moment I knew that we had those things in common."

"I don't have that kind of support with all of this…"

"We may not understand, Blaine, but we're willing to do whatever it takes to help you. Whatever this is – whatever happened to you that you can't bring yourself to talk about it – doesn't matter to me."

"But my mother…"

"Was a sick woman, and she _never_ would have done those things to you if she had been sane. You can't blame yourself for any of this, and you can't punish yourself for it, either. _You_ didn't do anything wrong," Kurt replied.

"I still can't help but feel like I'm somehow responsible for what she did to me. That I'm ruined, dirty because I couldn't stop her. That no one would ever want me like this."

"_I _want you. No matter what you told me, I would still want you." Kurt reached up, pushing a piece of hair back behind Blaine's ear. "Come on… you need to get dressed so that we can take you home." Kurt stood up, walking over to the only cabinet in the room and pulling out some clean clothes for the other boy.

"You wouldn't feel the same way if I told you what happened… what I remembered."

"Try me."

"My mother was fucked up in the head. She thought… I don't even know what she thought she was doing. But she… she…" Kurt watched as Blaine shook his head, breaking down. He hurried over to the other boy, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend.

"I'm sorry. You don't have to tell me unless you want to." Kurt kissed his boyfriend's forehead gently, letting Blaine cry as much as he needed to.

"You boys ready to go?" Kurt turned his head towards the door as he heard his father's voice, shaking his head. He turned back to Blaine, knowing that the other boy needed his attention and his comfort now more than ever.

"I love you, okay? This isn't going to change my feelings for you at all. I love you, and I've been in love with you almost since the moment we met. There is _nothing_ you can say that will change that because you did _not_ do anything to deserve what happened to you." Kurt gently rubbed Blaine's back as the boy started to calm down. He wanted nothing more than to take Blaine's pain away, but he knew that the best he could do was try to comfort Blaine.

Kurt smiled as Blaine pulled away, reaching up to wipe the tears from his face. "I'm sorry. Your shirt…"

"It can be washed. You needed to cry." Kurt reached over to the little table in the room and grabbed the box of tissues, putting it into Blaine's hands. "Just get yourself together, and then we'll go home."


	21. Chapter 21

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: I'm sorry… these chapters are getting difficult to write, but I'm trying to keep getting them up as regularly as possible.**

Blaine knocked on Kurt's door, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath as he waited for the taller boy to answer. He needed to do this; he needed to tell his boyfriend the whole story. "Come in." Blaine pushed the door open and walked in, closing it behind him. "We aren't supposed to have the door closed when we're in here alone…"

"I don't want Finn to know what I'm going to tell you. I don't want anyone to know…" Blaine watched as Kurt's head shot up from his textbook and proceeded to move his things around so that Blaine could sit down. He walked over to the bed, sitting down on the far end, away from his boyfriend.

"Come sit over here… I won't do anything to you, I promise." Blaine shook his head.

"My mom had a lot of problems. But the worst of it… the worst of it I didn't remember. Because I didn't want to remember what had happened to me at her hands. I didn't want to remember her the way I'll always remember my dad…"

"She hurt you."

"I was too little to understand… she was my mother, I didn't want to believe that the way she touched me was wrong. So I pretended like it never happened. If I'd just said something, told someone… she wouldn't have gotten the chance to stab me before she was hospitalized." Blaine closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and sighing. "The things she did… if she'd been sane enough to know what she was doing, she would have been arrested for… for sexual abuse."

"Blaine…" Blaine felt Kurt take both of his hands and looked up, noting the tears in the other boy's eyes. "I am _so_ sorry."

"It isn't your fault."

"And it isn't your fault, either. _She_ was the one who did something wrong here." Blaine nodded, closing his eyes. He was surprised when he felt Kurt moving closer to him, wrapping an arm around his waist and pressing a kiss against his cheek. "I still love you. This… this is just something that happened to you when you were younger. It has _nothing_ to do with who you are. You didn't _want_ this to happen to you, and you aren't responsible for what she did to you."

"I'm not pure… she ruined me."

"She hurt you. But she didn't ruin you, Blaine. You're still a good person… think about everything you did for me last year. You've been through so much, but you've never taken your anger out on anyone. You didn't do anything to deserve this," Kurt replied. Blaine looked up at Kurt's face, at the concern in the other boy's eyes. "I still think that you're the best thing that ever happened to me. I still can't imagine my life without you."

"I love you."

"I love you, too." Blaine closed his eyes, letting his head fall over so that it was against Kurt's shoulder. Blaine smiled slightly as the boy gently pulled him so that they were lying down across the bed.

"I never meant to hurt anyone."

"You were upset… it's hard to think straight in situations like that," Kurt replied. "It hurt that you didn't feel like you were worth saving… that you felt like you were worthless. Because you mean so much to me, Blaine. If I hadn't met you, I might have tried the same thing… I was _that_ desperate when we met. You gave me a reason to keep going, because you showed me that there were people who cared out there. Because you cared enough to show me that I didn't have to just take it… I didn't have to be a victim."

"Now look at me…"

"What happened to you is completely different, Blaine… you had every right to trust your parents. No one deserves to go through something like that, no matter what they've done or who they are."

"No one deserves to be bullied, either…" 

"But you were hurt by the very people who were supposed to protect you from all of that. The people who are supposed to love you unconditionally, no matter how much you screw up. That's worse than any bully, ever. You didn't have any way out of that situation."

"I could have told someone…" Blaine began.

"They were your parents. You wanted to believe that they loved you, that they wouldn't do anything to hurt you because that's what we expect from our parents. You were young and afraid and no one blames you for trying to protect yourself from all of that by forgetting it… you did what you had to do to survive." Blaine curled into Kurt's side as the other boy spoke, desiring the comfort that Kurt's presence provided. "You may not be able to rely on your real parents, Blaine, but my family loves you. My parents want to make sure that you're okay… they really do care about you."

"I'm not supposed to be their problem…"

"That doesn't matter… you needed someone to be there for you. My parents love you, they wanted to do what they could to help. They still want to do whatever they can to help you."

"It would just be easier if people didn't care so much."

"If we didn't care so much, you would be dead now. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if that had happened… I don't know that I would be able to deal with it if you had succeeded in killing yourself," Kurt replied. Blaine sighed, pulling away from his boyfriend. "I love you. I don't want to see you hurting. I want you to be alright again, and I'm going to do whatever I can to help you."

"I wish you had just backed off…"

"You can't still want to die."

"I still just want the pain to go away. I don't know what else I can do to make it stop hurting…"

"You'll just have to learn to deal with it… it's going to take time, but you'll get better. We'll get through this, Blaine."

"You don't have to do anything, Kurt. _You_ don't have to deal with this."

"No, but I _am_ going to be here for you no matter what happens over the next few months. I'm not going to let you go through all of this alone, Blaine. You don't have to be alone through any of this… especially not now that you've told me what happened," Kurt replied. Blaine bit down on his bottom lip as Kurt moved closer to him again, taking his hand and intertwining their fingers. "I'm not giving up on you. There is _nothing_ I wouldn't do for you."

"You won't let me go."

"Because I know that you don't really want that. I would _never_ be able to forgive myself if I didn't try to help you get through this."


	22. Chapter 22

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: And another chapter… that only took me about 3 hours to write. But I like it, and there's some lovely Kurt/Rachel friendship at the end, even if there isn't actually any Blaine in this chapter.**

"Alright, guys… we need to have a serious talk. It's looking like Blaine might not be back in time for Sectionals, and we need to figure out what we're going to do." Kurt looked up and sighed at Mr. Schuester's announcement to the entire glee club. "I know, Kurt, he might come back before Sectionals. But we need to be prepared in case he isn't ready."

"Mr. Schuester, that's still three weeks away… we have time to wait a little longer before we have to replace Blaine. And I don't think we should do anything too quickly here… we shouldn't do anything that might upset Blaine if he finds out about it. It might make things worse," Rachel commented. Kurt shot Rachel a smile and an appreciative look.

"Rachel's right, Mr. Schue… Blaine's already in a bad place. I don't think it would be good for him to hear that we're replacing him right now," Finn added.

"I understand, guys. Really, I do. But we have to think about what's best for the team…"

"Isn't it best for the team to try and make sure everyone involved is happy with what's going on? I don't see how hurting Blaine is going to be good for the rest of the team," Mercedes replied. "I think that for now we should just let things be, until we know for sure Blaine's not going to be ready to come back to school and compete with us at Sectionals. Three weeks is a long time." Everyone seemed to be watching their choir director with bated breath, wondering whether or not the man was going to give in to their requests as he sighed and shook his head.

"I know that you guys want to wait and give Blaine a chance to get through this and come back. But we don't know what's wrong with him."

Kurt glanced over at his step-brother, the only other person in the room that knew _exactly_ why Blaine hadn't been at school for the past week. They had both agreed that they wouldn't say a word to anyone at school about the reasoning behind Blaine's trip to the hospital, but it was getting harder to avoid slipping up and admitting to someone else that Blaine was dealing with some pretty serious mental health problems.

"Blaine could be seriously ill. And while I'm worried about him, I have to think about what's best for everyone here. It isn't fair to any of you if I let you get disqualified from Sectionals because I didn't try to replace a member of our group who might not be able to compete."

"Just one more week, Mr. Schue," Kurt replied.

"Okay. But if Blaine's not ready to come back by Monday, we're going to have to find a replacement for him. Now we need to get to work."

By the time rehearsal was over, Kurt was exhausted and he wanted nothing more than to rush home to check on Blaine and then get his schoolwork done so that he could crash. "Kurt, can I talk to you for a second?" Kurt packed up his things slowly, hoping that everyone else in the room would leave before he had to talk to their teacher. Finally he wandered over to the piano, hands in his pockets.

"Is there something I can do for you, Mr. Schue?"

"I wanted to talk to you about what's going on with Blaine… no one seems to know any details about his condition, and I'm concerned. What's going on? What aren't you telling me?"

"I don't know that Blaine would want me to tell anyone…"

"I know that Blaine's had a hard time so far this year. This isn't a physical illness, is it?" Kurt shook his head.

"He's been contemplating suicide. My dad took him to the hospital when he found Blaine in the kitchen with a knife… he's not enough of a danger to himself to still be in the hospital, but he's still not doing very well."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Kurt shook his head, sighing.

"There really isn't anything we can do other than be there for him right now, let him talk when he's ready."

"Do you know what set him off?" Kurt shook his head, knowing that Blaine wouldn't want anyone else to know what he'd told Kurt the first night he'd been home from the hospital. If Blaine had been worried enough about Finn overhearing that he'd risked getting into trouble by closing Kurt's door that evening, Kurt knew he would be furious if Mr. Schuester found out what was going on. "Let him know we're thinking about him, okay? I'll do whatever I can to help him out once he's back at school."

"Thanks, Mr. Schue. I'll make sure he gets the message." Kurt hurried out of the choir room, surprised to see that Rachel was standing outside the room waiting for him. "What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to talk to you about Blaine, see how he was doing… I didn't mean to eavesdrop…"

"Whatever you do, Rachel, what you just heard has to stay with you… no one is supposed to know. I only told Mr. Schuester because he'd sort of figured it out already."

"I promise, Kurt, I won't tell. But I'm worried about Blaine… are you sure it's a good idea for him to be home alone while you're at school?"

"He isn't alone… Carole's been moving her work schedule around so that she can be home during the day, and we don't leave him alone for very long," Kurt replied.

"He told you what happened to set him off, didn't he?" Kurt nodded, sighing. "You don't have to tell me what it is. Just… let him know we're all behind him, okay? We miss him, want him back as soon as he's feeling up to it. But tell him to take care of himself first."

"Thank you, Rachel. I should go, though… I'm taking Blaine his homework so that he can try to keep up as much as possible, and I know that Carole has to work at five. I really need to get home." Kurt was surprised when Rachel grabbed him for a quick hug before she let him go.

"If you need anything, call me."

"Rachel… do you care so much because you like Blaine, or because you think we need him to win Sectionals?"

"I care because Blaine is good for you. I know how much you love him… and I know how devastated you would be if something happened to him. We've had our differences, Kurt, but I do consider you my friend." Kurt nodded, smiling. "Get home to Blaine, okay?"

Kurt hurried out to his car, driving home as quickly as he could without breaking the law. Finn had football practice until six or seven and his dad wouldn't be home from the shop until around that time, meaning that Kurt and Blaine would be alone for a little more than an hour. There was no way Kurt was going to let the boy be completely alone, even for a moment.


	23. Chapter 23

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: So I decided that since we just saw Klaine sex in canon, it might be a time to have a little more Klaine sex in my story… enjoy!**

Kurt glanced up from his government homework assignment as he heard Blaine slam a book shut on the other side of the room. "I am so sick of doing makeup work."

"We could always take a break. Carole said you had been working all day… we should watch a movie or do something else fun," Kurt replied.

"I don't feel like watching a movie. Can we just relax and do nothing for a little while?" Kurt nodded, putting his own books away and patting the empty space on the bed next to him. Blaine was sitting next to him a moment later, curling into Kurt's side like he had the night he'd told Kurt all of those things about his mother and for a moment Kurt wondered if the boy was going to drop another bomb on him. "Can you just hold me? Please?" Kurt wrapped his arms around his boyfriend, gently pressing a kiss against the tip of the other boy's nose.

"I love you."

"It would be easier if you didn't."

"I'm not going to stop loving you just because it would make it easier for you to kill yourself, Blaine. I'm not going to walk away so that you can commit suicide."

"How can you love me? Knowing what I am, what's happened to me?" Blaine asked.

"Because none of that was your fault, Blaine. What kind of person would I be if I gave up on you just because your parents hurt you?"

"I'm damaged goods, Kurt…"

"So? Blaine, I don't just love you for the sex… it's nice, yes, but I love you because you're a sweet, wonderful guy that I want to spend the rest of my life with." Kurt gently stroked Blaine's curls, which the boy hadn't been gelling down since he'd gone to the hospital. "You're a beautiful person, Blaine. You've been hurt, but you have so much love in you. You were kind to me when I only met you because I was spying on the Warblers. You faced Dave Karofsky because he was making my life hell, even though he was huge compared to both of us. You welcomed me at Dalton with open arms when I couldn't take it any more, and you willingly let me come back to McKinley when Dave promised to leave me alone even though you knew it was going to mean that we couldn't be together as often."

"You act as though this hasn't affected me. Like I haven't changed because of what happened to me…"

"It changed you, but I still see the same good heart I've always seen. It makes you even more special, because you've been through so much and you're still such a good guy."

"I'm worthless, Kurt."

"You're not worthless. You were abused. There's a huge difference." Kurt repositioned himself so that he was facing Blaine, holding the boy's hands between them. "Please, Blaine. What can I do to help you? What will make this pain go away?"

"I don't think it ever will." Kurt leaned in and sighed, pressing soft kisses against Blaine's lips and cheeks as he wrapped his arms around Blaine's body. He couldn't help but smile as the boy relaxed in his arms and started kissing him back.

Kurt wasn't really sure how it happened, but suddenly Blaine's hands were roaming underneath his shirt and starting to lift the fabric away from Kurt's skin. He didn't fight against it, mostly because he was a teenaged boy and he wanted it as much as Blaine did. If Blaine was initiating things, then Kurt certainly wasn't going to tell him no.

"Can I…?" Blaine began. Kurt watched the boy as he pulled back, staring at Kurt's lips for a moment before he looked up into Kurt's eyes. Something made Blaine tense under Kurt's grip, and Kurt didn't understand what that meant. "I want to do this."

"I do too," Kurt replied.

"Can we switch places this time?" Kurt smiled and nodded, sighing and pulling Blaine close again.

"Of course, if that's what you want." Kurt whimpered softly as Blaine's fingers reached into the waistband of his jeans, ghosting over the sensitive skin above Kurt's cock as he tried to undo the buttons on Kurt's jeans to pull them off. His pants were too tight, and each button coming undone made it a little more bearable. Blaine pulled the jeans down as quickly as possible – like before, it wasn't an easy feat because Kurt was wearing skinny jeans – and started pressing his hand gently against Kurt's dick over his underwear. Kurt bucked up against Blaine's hand until the boy pulled away.

Blaine's pants and underwear came off quickly, and then he pulled away Kurt's boxer briefs so that they were both completely naked. "Where are the lube and condoms?"

"Bedside table drawer." Kurt couldn't help but stare at Blaine's body as the boy got up from the bed and got the necessary supplies. He'd never thought about how beautiful Blaine was before, but it was hard for Kurt to think about anything else as Blaine moved back towards him. Kurt hadn't even moved.

"Is something wrong?" Kurt shook his head at Blaine's question, smiling at the shorter boy.

"I was admiring our body. It's beautiful. Just like everything else about you." Kurt watched as Blaine smiled slightly. "Now get back over here… I need to touch you."

"You won't…"

"I'll let you be in control." Kurt watched as Blaine nodded, settling next to him again. The curly-haired boy started slowly, leaning in with soft kisses but not really letting their bodies touch. Both boys let their hands roam, fingertips barely brushing across warm skin in a way that made Kurt shiver.

"It… it's going to hurt a little. I'll try to be gentle."

"I know. I trust you," Kurt replied. He smiled as Blaine moved to straddle his hips, bending over to attack Kurt's neck with kisses. "Tell me what you want me to do."

"Just let me do this," Blaine whispered. Kurt whimpered as the younger boy's hand stroked over his balls. It was hard for Kurt to stop himself from squirming or touching himself or Blaine. He needed to let Blaine take the lead. It was especially difficult when Blaine started rutting against him.

"I won't last if you keep that up." Kurt watched as Blaine flipped open the lid from the bottle of lube, coating his fingers quickly. Kurt closed his eyes and tried his best to relax as one of Blaine's fingers reached down to gently circle the puckered hole, massaging it to try and make things easier for Kurt. Kurt reached up and let his hair play in Blaine's curls, gripping them as Blaine gently pushed a fingertip inside Kurt's body. He tensed again, but relaxed quickly when he realized that he was only going to make things worse for himself.

"Am I hurting you?"

"It's uncomfortable, but I'll live," Kurt replied with a smile. He loosened his grip on Blaine's hair. "Keep going, please…"

"I don't want to hurt you…"

"And if you do, I'll tell you to stop." Kurt gently pulled Blaine's face back towards his own and pressed a soft kiss against the other boy's lips. Kurt felt Blaine gently pressing his finger deeper as Blaine deepened the kiss, but it was easier now that Kurt was more relaxed. Blaine was slow and gentle with his actions, almost as if he was trying not to break Kurt. "You won't break me," Kurt whispered, pulling away from the kiss for just a moment.

"Have you ever done this? Touched yourself like this before?"

"No… it felt too awkward."

"_That's_ why I'm being gentle. You need to be comfortable with what we're doing." Kurt smiled slightly.

"You don't have to be quite so gentle. I can take a little roughness," Kurt replied. He could feel Blaine rubbing around his hole with a second finger. He bit down on his bottom lip as the boy pressed in again as Blaine attacked his neck, kissing and sucking as if he wanted to give Kurt a hickey.

Kurt moaned as Blaine pushed both of his fingers all the way in and started stroking gentle circles across his prostate. "_Please_," Kurt moaned, his breathing getting heavier as Blaine stopped with the circles and started scissoring his fingers as he thrust them in and out to stretch Kurt's opening. After a few moments of that, Kurt felt a third finger being pushed in although this time it wasn't nearly as uncomfortable. "I'm ready…"

"I want you to be comfortable."

"I know. And I will be," Kurt replied. He whimpered at the emptiness as Blaine removed his fingers to put on the condom. Kurt watched as the boy poured more lube onto his fingers to coat the condom so that it would be easier for Kurt to take.

"I love you…" Blaine began.

"I love you, too." Kurt took a few deep breaths as Blaine started pushing slowly into him, filling him up. It felt so strange, and yet wonderful at the same time. "Oh God, Blaine… that feels… it's…" Kurt couldn't even form a coherent sentence to explain how amazing it felt for him despite the slight discomfort due to his inexperience. 

"It's intense and strange and amazing all at once." Kurt nodded at Blaine's description, knowing that it came from previous experience. "I know."

"Please move…" Kurt begged, whimpering slightly. "Please…" Blaine did as Kurt asked, finding a rhythm that made Kurt moan in a good way. Kurt couldn't help the sounds he made and the way he gripped at Blaine's body. He could feel himself falling apart as Blaine thrust into him.

"Hey, Kurt…" Kurt felt his eyes widen to the point that he thought they would pop out of his head as Blaine stopped moving and they both turned to look at the door. "Oh… shit…"

"Finn! Get out!" Kurt closed his eyes and groaned as Finn shut the door. "God, I'm sorry…" Kurt opened his eyes and sighed as Blaine started to pull out. "We don't have to stop."

"I'm not comfortable doing this with Finn home. I… I sort of…" Kurt watched as Blaine glanced down at his member, and Kurt noticed that the boy had lost his erection.

"Oh…" Kurt smiled as he pulled Blaine in for a soft kiss. "It's okay. We have plenty of time for that." Kurt watched as tears started sliding down Blaine's face. "Hey… I'm not mad or upset or anything. My step-brother's a cock-block, I understand."

"It's not… I wanted to…" Blaine began. Kurt shook his head, reaching a hand up to place a finger over Blaine's lips.

"I enjoyed it, Blaine. I want to do it again, when we can guarantee that no one is going to come in and ruin it." Kurt watched as Blaine nodded and forced a slight smile.

"I want to finish what we started."

"And we will. Just not tonight."


	24. Chapter 24

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: So I apologize for how long it took me to get this chapter written and posted. I started working on a set of Niff drabbles, plus I have a Dalton-verse fic I'm writing and posting on my Tumblr. Those have been distracting me from this story, but I promise I won't just abandon it.**

Kurt hadn't really expected to wake up wrapped in Blaine's arms, but it was definitely a nice feeling. The curly-haired boy was still fast asleep and Kurt couldn't help but stare at him, taking in the long lashes and smooth skin. The only bad part about Blaine being asleep right now was the fact that Kurt couldn't see the boy's gorgeous hazel eyes.

"You're staring." Kurt smiled at the boy's comment; Blaine hadn't even opened his eyes, but he still seemed to know that Kurt was trying to watch him sleep.

"I can't help it… you look so peaceful. It's adorable." Kurt leaned over and pressed a kiss against Blaine's forehead. "How are you feeling?" Kurt sighed as he felt Blaine shrug in his arms. "Do you want to just lay here, or should we get up and go find some breakfast? We have a little while before I have to get ready for school."

"I'd rather just stay here for a while… I'm comfortable."

"Okay… do you want to talk?"

"No. I'd rather just lay here for a while and relax," Blaine replied. Kurt closed his eyes, gently pulling the other boy closer. "I love you."

"I love you, too. So much, Blaine." Kurt smiled as Blaine took his hand.

"I know. And I'm sorry… I didn't mean to hurt you. Or your family. I was just upset…"

"I know," Kurt replied, cutting off Blaine mid-sentence. "I know that you just wanted to make the pain go away. I understand. And I'm so proud of you for having the strength to ask for help."

"I'm afraid I won't be strong enough if I get to that point again."

"I believe in you… I think you're stronger than you realize."

"I wish I could just forget again. That it would just go away, so that I could have my life back."

"You just need time,"

"I've had too much time already, Kurt. I… I think I need to make myself try to move forward."

"I think you need to do whatever will help you through this. But I know that everyone in glee will be happy to see you come back, if you think you're ready," Kurt replied. "They all miss you… they've been worried about you."

"I didn't want anyone to worry."

"They would have worried no matter what. I love you… and we all care about you. They don't even know everything, and they still keep asking how you're doing and when you're planning on coming back. They wouldn't even let Mr. Schue start looking for someone to take your place for Sectionals yet because they wanted to give you more time."

"You didn't tell me that…"

"I didn't want to rush you. I wanted it to be your decision when you were ready to come back to school. I was afraid it was only going to make things worse." Kurt smiled as Blaine leaned in and pressed a kiss against his lips.

"Thank you. For looking out for me."

"Always." The two boys lay there for a little while, until Kurt's alarm clock started going off. "We should get up, get ready."

"I wish we could just stay here forever," Blaine muttered.

"Me too… but we should go, get ready for school. I have a French oral exam this morning I can't afford to miss."

"You were taking French at Dalton… I'm pretty sure you would be fine to miss a day or two. Dalton was a lot harder than McKinley."

"But it's a test," Kurt replied, gently extricating himself from Blaine's arms. "Now I need to get a shower, and you need to get up and get dressed if you're going to school today."

Kurt hurried through his shower and getting dressed, not wanting to be away from Blaine for too long. He had a feeling that Blaine was going to need his support more than ever today, given what he had been dealing with in the past few weeks. Kurt just hoped that Blaine was right in saying that he was ready to go back to school.

By the time Kurt got out of the bathroom, Blaine was already gone. Kurt hurried down to the kitchen, smiling at Blaine as he saw the boy making himself something to eat. "So, what's for breakfast?"

"Toast… I'm not good in the kitchen, that's about all I can make," Blaine replied. "I guess I should have taken advantage of being home with Carole and learned how to cook better."

"You weren't exactly in a good place during all that time… you had a lot of other things to think about." Kurt gently squeezed Blaine's shoulders, letting his chin rest on top of one of his hands. "Why don't you sit, let me make you breakfast? You need something more substantial than a few pieces of toast if you're going to go back to school today."

The eggs Kurt decided to cook were nearly finished by the time the garage door opened and Carole walked into the kitchen, looking exhausted after pulling another night on the third shift. "You boys are up early."

"We woke up, decided to just go ahead and get ready for school," Kurt replied. Carole looked back and forth between the two of them for a moment, before she walked over and sat down at the table with Blaine.

"Any chance there's enough food for one more?"

"I was making enough for everyone… provided Dad and Finn get out of bed in time to actually eat before they have to leave for work and class." Kurt hurriedly finished cooking the eggs and putting some on plates for Carole, Blaine, and himself and adding the toast Blaine had already made.

"This looks good. Thank you, Kurt." They all started eating in silence for a few moments. "So, you're both going to school today?"

"I need to try," Blaine replied. Kurt reached across the table to squeeze the boy's hand gently, hoping to reassure him that he was doing the right thing. "I've been away too long, I need to at least try and get things back to normal. I… I feel better than I have for a while."

"Okay." Kurt was grateful for the kind smile Carole shot in Blaine's direction. "But if it's too much, call me and I'll come pick you up."

"I will. But I'm going to try to stay… through glee, if I can."

"Okay. Just don't forget that you have an appointment with Dr. Benson this afternoon," Carole replied.

"I can drive you after glee, if you stay at school all day." Kurt added, turning to look at Blaine.

"Thank you."


	25. Chapter 25

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: So this is just a short one, but I didn't particularly want to make this longer than was really necessary.**

Blaine had forgotten just how much work a day at school could be – even if it was at McKinley rather than Dalton. While he had been working a lot at home in an attempt to keep up with his classes while he was absent, it still didn't really compare to what went on at school.

"You look tired." Blaine turned around as he heard Mr. Schuester speaking to him, forcing a smile.

"It's been a long day," he replied.

"Are you planning on coming to glee club this afternoon?"

"Yeah… I just have to talk to my math teacher about making up a test I missed, and then I'll be there." Blaine watched as the man nodded, smiling at him.

"I wanted to talk to you after class. How are you doing?" Mr. Schuester asked. Blaine shrugged, sighing. He had started to get used to teachers who really just didn't give a shit about their students unless it affected them somehow, so he hadn't really expected the choir director to ask.

"I'm just not used to being at school… it's a lot more work than I expected. I need to get used to all of this again, get back into the swing of things," Blaine replied. "I'll get there… I just need a day or two to catch up."

"Don't push yourself too hard, okay? You can repeat a year of school… you'll never get back the things you might lose if you make yourself sick by pushing too hard too soon." Blaine nodded, reaching up to adjust his bag as it started sliding off his shoulder.

"I know. Thanks, Mr. Schue."

"Go schedule your make-up test. Just come on to rehearsal when you get done." Blaine nodded, hurrying up so that he wouldn't miss too much of rehearsal. They had a lot to get done, and a very short time to do it in. Blaine needed to catch up, _fast_.

As soon as he'd managed to get away from his calculus teacher, Blaine ran to the choir room and dropped his bag on the floor next to an empty chair, joining in on the vocal warm-ups without saying a word. Most of the members of New Directions had already seen him that day in classes, so it wasn't that much of a shock to anyone to see him in rehearsal. The only real shock was how quickly some of his fellow glee clubbers flocked around him to give him a hug as they all warmed up.

"Okay, guys… I know we're glad to see Blaine back with us again but we've really got to get to work. You'll have plenty of time to talk to him later."

"You're going to be okay, though, right Blaine?" Tina asked.

"Yeah, I mean, you were in the hospital last week, and you've been out of school. You still look tired," Mercedes added.

"I'll be fine, guys. I'm just getting back into the swing of things. Mr. Schue is right, we need to get to work… I have a lot of catching up to do, and Sectionals are just around the corner."

The whole group got down to work after that, dancing and singing until Blaine was sure he would pass out from sheer exhaustion. "Okay, guys… good rehearsal today. Go get some rest, because we're going to have to keep working just as hard for the rest of the week. I need everyone at their best."

Blaine picked up his bag and immediately reached for Kurt's hand, suddenly needing to feel the comfort of having his boyfriend close by. He couldn't explain the feeling, but something in his gut told Blaine that he really didn't need to be alone despite the fact that he really didn't want to be surrounded by the entire glee club at that moment.

"We really need to go… Blaine's tired, and he still has a doctor's appointment this afternoon," Kurt began as some of the glee girls approached, obviously to check on Blaine's health. Blaine was thankful that everyone else seemed to understand and backed off.

Blaine relaxed as they got into Kurt's car. "Thank you."

"Don't worry about it… we really did need to go if we're going to make it in time for your appointment with Dr. Benson." Blaine sighed, closing his eyes and letting his head rest back against the seat. "What?"

"I don't want to go to the doctor today… I'd rather just go home and sleep until tomorrow." Blaine smiled slightly as Kurt squeezed his hand.

"How did it go today?"

Blaine shrugged before he bothered trying to answer the question. "Okay, I guess… I was too busy trying to keep up with everything that was going on to really have any time to think about anything other than school. Being busy sort of made it easier."

"It'll get easier to keep up."

"And then I'll really know whether or not I can handle this," Blaine added.

"I know you can… you're strong, you're working through all of this at your own pace. That's all you can do right now." Blaine nodded. Everyone had been telling him the same thing ever since he'd started contemplating suicide, and while it wasn't really getting easier to deal with the pain it was at least getting easier to believe that it wouldn't last forever.

"I would really rather just go home and rest right now, not go see Dr. Benson. It's been a long day already."

"You should at least go for part of your session, let her know what's going on. She might be able to give you something that would make things easier for you – some kind of advice or something. She can't help you properly if she doesn't know what's going on." Blaine sighed; as much as he wanted to just go home and relax, he knew that the boy was right. Dr. Benson couldn't help him if he didn't tell her everything, and as he already had an appointment it would just be easier of he did what he was already supposed to be doing anyway.

"Fine… I'll go."


	26. Chapter 26

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: Short chapter. I know. But I think this is a good place to stop, because there really isn't anything else that I can add without the chapter either becoming redundant or annoying and out of character.**

Three days. Blaine had made it through three days of school so far without breaking down or freaking out, and he was proud of himself for that. It was getting more difficult as he got used to being in school again, but he'd been handling it okay on his own. The note summoning him to the guidance counselor's office wasn't exactly something Blaine had expected.

Blaine knocked on the door to Miss Pillsbury's office, leaning against the doorframe as the woman looked up to smile at him. "Blaine… come sit down. Let's talk."

"Is something wrong?" Blaine pushed the door shut behind him as he walked over to one of the empty chairs in front of Miss Pillsbury's desk.

"That's what I wanted to find out from you… some of your teachers mentioned that you seemed a little distracted since you came back to school. Are you feeling alright?" Blaine sighed, relaxing into the chair and closing his eyes.

"I'm just having a hard time right now… I'm dealing with it. That's pretty much all I can do."

"Are you sure? If there's something I can do to help…"

"I'm already seeing a therapist, Miss Pillsbury. It's just taking some time to work through all of this." Blaine watched as the woman nodded.

"I know. I don't know what's going on, but it takes a lot of time to work through any kind of issue properly. I can talk to your teachers, if you want, let them know what's going on and…" 

"As much as I appreciate you trying to help, I'd really rather deal with all of this without getting any kind of special treatment. I just want to get through this semester, get my head back on straight over Christmas break. I'm doing okay in my classes… as long as I have a B average, I really don't think it's anything to worry about."

"Blaine, you can do better than Bs. You shouldn't have to take lower grades simply because you're under too much pressure…"

"What high school student doesn't deal with ridiculous amounts of pressure, Miss Pillsbury? I'm not that different than any other kid in this school…"

"Your mother is out of the picture and your father is facing a very long prison sentence… you've transferred schools, leaving behind your friends because it would be easier to go to the same school as Kurt and Finn. Not to mention being assaulted by your own father. Blaine, that's more stress than most high school students go through in all four years and you've had it all come down on you in three months." Blaine sighed, closing his eyes.

"Are we done here? I really need to get back to class, Mr. Schuester was going over vocabulary for tomorrow's test…"

"I know," Miss Pillsbury replied. "Which is why I talked to Will before I called you in here. He's willing to go over everything with you after school if you need him to, if you want to talk."

"I don't need to talk about anything. Really, Miss Pillsbury… I'm getting help. I can handle this…"

"Blaine, if you need a few days…"

"I already took a few days… I've missed too much school already." Blaine shook his head. "Really, Miss Pillsbury… I can do this. I don't need you to pull strings and make things easier for me. I have to learn how to deal with all of this without that kind of help."

"Okay. But please come talk to me, or talk to any of your teachers if you start to feel like you can't keep your head above water. We want to help you, even if you aren't quite ready to talk about whatever is going on."

"Thank you, Miss Pillsbury. I'll remember that. But for now I just _really_ need to make it through the semester." Blaine stood up, waiting in silence for the guidance counselor to write out a hall pass for him.

"Don't work too hard, alright? You still need to take time out to relax and not push yourself too hard to get caught up," Miss Pillsbury replied.

"I know."

Blaine took the note and hurried towards Mr. Schuester's classroom, knowing that he had probably missed almost all of the review for the next day's test. Not that it really mattered – Blaine had been taking Spanish at Dalton, and his classes there had been much more difficult than any of the public schools he had ever gone to. He could have taken Mr. Schuester's final the next day and still probably have gotten the highest grade in the class, given the fact that no one else in Spanish 3 could talk with the teacher in Spanish without some kind of script for the interaction.

"You're not supposed to be in the halls." Blaine looked up as he heard a familiar voice behind him, not particularly in the mood to deal with Coach Sylvester.

"I have a pass…" Blaine began, holding out the slip of paper so that the woman could see it.

"What's going on with you, Prep School? You mope around this school like someone murdered your cat…"

"I have to get to class."

"You and I both know that you could fly through Brillo Head's tests without even going to classes. Dalton's light years beyond this hellhole when it comes to academics. So why don't you tell me what's really going on with you." Blaine sighed, shaking his head.

"I don't want to talk about it. I'm dealing with it…"

"Not very well."

"But I'm dealing. I'm not dangerous. To anyone. So it's my business, not anyone else's." Blaine started to walk away again, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"You're walking away from me."

"I have to get to class."


	27. Chapter 27

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: Yes, I am updating at 3 AM. Why? Because I have to open on Black Friday, which means I work from 12 AM to 7 AM on Friday. Then I get to go back to the store and close, too, because I'm a Black Friday veteran. It's going to be **_**fun**_**.**

Blaine took a deep breath as he finally walked off stage, surprised at how tired he was after the group's performance. The hardest part of Sectionals was over… now they all just had to wait and find out what would happen next.

"You were amazing. Like always." Blaine smiled as Kurt kissed his cheek. They normally didn't show affection in public, but backstage at a choir competition seemed like a safe enough place.

"I wasn't anything special… Mercedes' solo was amazing," Blaine replied as he loosened the black tie he was wearing. He never would have dreamed of making himself more comfortable after a performance with the Warblers; the uniform was almost sacred at Dalton. But seeing as Puck had already taken his tie off and Finn was in the process of untucking his dress shirt, Blaine got the impression that it wasn't that important to keep their costumes looking perfect.

"You guys were amazing!" Blaine turned as he heard Mr. Schuester's voice calling to the group from the stage door. "I am so proud of you… all of you." Blaine noticed the way the man's eyes glanced at him briefly as he said that. "I want you all to go back to the green room, relax for a bit. The next choir goes on in fifteen minutes, and I want everyone back in the audience to support the other competitors."

The whole group wandered down the hall towards the dressing room they had been using, chattering excitedly. Blaine took Kurt's hand as they walked, letting his head rest against the taller boy's shoulder.

"Boy, I know you are _not_ looking that sad about what just happened," Mercedes said as she turned around to face them. "We _killed_ it out there."

"I'm just tired, 'Cedes," Blaine replied, forcing a smile in her direction. "_You_ were amazing. If that solo alone doesn't win this for us, the judges are deaf."

Blaine could see the huge smile on the diva's face at his words. "Thank you, Blaine." By the time Blaine and Kurt arrived in the room, the only seats left were either around the table at the back or a single, much more comfortable looking chair pushed into a far corner. Blaine smiled slightly as Kurt steered him towards the chair, pushing him to sit down in it and carefully sitting down on his lap. Everyone else was talking animatedly, but the two boys sat there quietly for the entire fifteen minutes, completely wrapped up in one another. Blaine closed his eyes after a little while, relaxing into the chair and nearly falling asleep before Mr. Schuester came back into the room and started ushering everyone back into the auditorium.

"You feeling alright, Blaine?"

"I'm just tired, Mr. Schue. I'll be fine." Blaine stopped as he felt the man's hand on his shoulder.

"If you want to stay here…"

"I'm fine. We should go… I don't want to miss anyone else performing." Blaine hurried to catch up with Kurt, who had gone ahead with everyone else, and take the other boy's hand again.

"You should have just taken the chance to get some rest," Kurt whispered, knowing exactly what Mr. Schuester would have said to Blaine.

"I didn't want to be alone. Besides, you know I love show choir."

"I wouldn't have let you be alone." Blaine smiled at Kurt's comment, knowing that it was the truth. If Mr. Schuester had tried to stop the taller boy from staying with Blaine in the green room, it would have turned into World War Three in there. Blaine had realized not long after he'd moved in with his boyfriend's family that Kurt was much more hard-headed than he had ever realized. In a way, the boy was a lot like his father – stubborn and unswervingly loyal to the people he cared about, willing to do whatever it took to protect the people he loved. It was one of the things that Blaine loved most about the boy.

"If I'd stayed back there, I would have just been sleeping. But I would have loved having you there with me." Blaine squeezed Kurt's hand as he spoke, three quick squeezes. Blaine couldn't help the smile that crossed his face as Kurt responded with four quick squeezes of his own.

The group walked into the auditorium just before the lights went down for the final performance of the day, giving them all just enough time to get to their seats and get settled before the last choir began singing.

The last choir was good, but they were nothing compared with the group that had gone prior to New Directions. Blaine couldn't be sure where they would fall in the spectrum of things, but he felt confident that they had done their best. It was up to the judges.

"This is nerve-wracking," Artie muttered, a full ten minutes after the awards portion of the day was scheduled to start. All they had been told was that the judges were having a difficult time making a decision. After what had happened the previous year, the powers that be had eliminated the possibility of a tie going into Regionals, which meant that the judges _had_ to make a decision about who was the best.

"We don't even know that they're debating where we fall. There can't be a tie for any of the spots, so they may have a winner chosen and just be deciding who gets to be the runner up," Mr. Schuester pointed out.

"Doesn't make it any easier not knowing whether or not we won. We've been working so hard for this…" Finn began. Everyone looked up as an announcement was made stating that all of the competitors needed to go to the stage.

"Okay, guys… this is it."

Blaine didn't let go of Kurt's hand the entire time they were walking to their places on the stage, or as they were waiting for the presenter to finish his little speech. No one in New Directions was really paying much attention to what was being said; they just wanted to know where they had placed and whether or not they needed to start preparing for Regionals.

Everyone in the group smiled and started clapping as the third place choir was announced – the third choir that had performed. Blaine bit down on his bottom lip as they waited for everything to calm down enough that the winner could be announced. He'd thought he was nervous when he performed with the Warblers, but something about the idea of going to Nationals with Kurt and the rest of New Directions made this year's competition seem so much more important.

Blaine didn't even really hear the words as the winner was announced; he was sort of in shock at hearing that they were going to Regionals, despite the fact that he knew they had done well in their performance. It wasn't until Blaine felt Kurt hugging him that he realized what was going on.

"One step closer to Nationals," Kurt commented.

"As long as I get to see it with you."


	28. Chapter 28

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: Alright, another new chapter. I'm going to start trying to wrap this one up soon; I'm probably not going to take this all the way to Nationals. But it might be a while, because I still have several papers to finish before school is over next week.**

"I don't think I can keep doing this. Either I can't sleep, or I sleep all the fucking time. I'm still a week behind on schoolwork because I can't focus on anything. And all I think about, still, is how much _easier_ things would be if I could just end it all right now. No trial, no school, none of those awful memories…"

"What's stopping you?" Dr. Benson asked. Blaine sighed, shaking his head.

"Kurt. His family. Glee club. I don't want to hurt anyone else."

"You still have something to hold onto."

"I wish I didn't. I wish every day that things had been different, that I wouldn't feel so guilty about thinking of suicide because it would hurt other people. Because it would make this pain go away. Because I still can't see that light at the end of the tunnel." Blaine glanced down at his hands, playing with the edge of one of his nails that had split. "I don't know how much longer I can do this, play this game. Pretend that I'm getting better when at best I'm just avoiding getting pulled under for as long as I can."

"You may not see it, Blaine, but you are getting better. You just admitted to me a minute ago that you have reasons to hang on – people that you love enough that you can't imagine hurting them that way. When you pulled that knife out of that drawer, you said that the only thing that stopped you was the promise you'd made to me that you wouldn't hurt yourself. Those people… they're a _much_ better reason to keep holding on, to try and get through all of this."

"And what if I can't?" Blaine didn't look up at the woman, but he could hear her stand up and walk over to her desk.

"Then we try something new. I don't like to prescribe medication, Blaine. It's not a decision I take lightly. But I'm starting to get the sense that therapy alone isn't enough for treating your depression."

"So you're going to drug me up?"

"It's a low dose of an SSRI… it's just to help you get through this, to get your mind off of suicide so that we can focus on you getting better. I can't make you take this, Blaine. But I can tell you that I don't think we're going to get you through this unless you're willing to at least try this." Blaine looked at the piece of paper as the woman handed it to him. He couldn't read exactly what it said, but he knew what it was.

"I don't want people to think I'm crazy…"

"Blaine, you don't have to tell anyone other than Burt and Carole Hummel. They need to know so that they can keep an eye on you for the first couple of weeks, to make sure that you aren't a danger to yourself. No one else ever needs to know, whether you take the medication for a few months or a few years."

"Y-years?" Blaine asked. He looked up at the woman, shaking his head. "I don't want…"

"You don't have to be on the medication forever, Blaine," Dr. Benson replied. "I just think that it would be a good idea for now, until you can get some of the issues that are causing your depression out of your system. Therapy takes time and effort, and sometimes we have to add medication to get the results we need."

Blaine dropped the paper down on the coffee table. "I don't want them to think I'm crazy."

"The Hummels_ know_ you aren't crazy, Blaine." Blaine bit down on his bottom lip as the woman picked the paper back up. "I will talk to them, if it'll help. I haven't spent much time talking to Burt Hummel, but I'm sure that he will understand. He's a reasonable man, and he's going to understand when I explain it to him."

"I don't want you to explain," Blaine replied, shaking his head and sighing.

"I trust Burt Hummel, Blaine. I wouldn't let you go home with him if I didn't think he and his family would understand and be supportive, okay? And they need to know what's going on so that they can help you." Blaine stared down at the piece of paper on the table in front of him, his fingernails picking at the hem of his shirt. "You don't have to do any of this alone… I'll talk to Burt, let him know what's going on." Blaine sighed, nodding. He closed his eyes as Dr. Benson walked out of the room, leaving him alone for a few minutes. Blaine folded up the slip of paper, shoving it into his pocket as he waited for Dr. Benson and Burt to get done with their conversation.

"Blaine? You ready to go?" Blaine nodded as he heard Burt's voice from the doorway, standing up and starting to follow the man.

"I'll see you next week, Blaine."

The car ride was silent for the first few minutes, until Burt pulled up at the pharmacy closest to the house. "Dr. Benson said you had the prescription." Blaine pulled it out of his pocket, staring down at the paper.

"You shouldn't have to pay for all of this for me…"

"Don't worry about the money, kid. That's all been taken care of. My main concern here is making sure that you're going to be okay and that you have everything you need."

"But…"

"It's not my money paying for all of this, okay? So don't feel bad about it." Blaine handed the paper over after a moment, letting his boyfriend's father take it into the pharmacy and drop it off. Blaine stared out the window of Burt's truck as he waited for the man to come back out, worrying his bottom lip with his teeth. He still wasn't sure about the idea of medication; everything he'd heard and read about the few medications that doctors would prescribe for teenagers made it sound as though they weren't something to be taken lightly. He still wasn't completely comfortable with the idea.

"It's not going to be ready for a while… I can come get it after dinner," Burt commented, getting back into the truck. Blaine didn't respond. "Hey… are you okay with all of this? The medication, going to Dr. Benson…?"

"I'm just afraid of the medication. I… I still feel the way I did the night you took me to the hospital. All the time. And I don't want to take the pills because they can make it worse, and I don't want to fuck up and get that close… or maybe even get to the point that I actually hurt myself before someone can help me." Blaine looked up as Burt put a hand on his shoulder.

"That's why you have us, kid. The whole family. We're gonna be there whenever you need to talk to us, and we're not going to ever give up on you, okay?" Burt commented. "You know that all you ever have to do is ask for our help, right?"

"But what if I'm not strong enough to ask next time?"

"That's why you're going to be sick of us asking you if you're doing alright all the time for the next few weeks."


	29. Chapter 29

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: So another chapter written. Don't hate Blaine in this chapter… it'll make sense later on.**

"I swear to God, Kurt, if you ask me that again I _will_ throw this chemistry textbook at you." Blaine didn't even bother to look up from the homework he was attempting to do before dinner. He was trying to rush through it all; this was the last chemistry assignment he had to finish, and there was going to be a test the next day. If he could finish this, he would be back on schedule with at least one more class and be that much closer to actually finishing the semester with everyone else in his classes. It didn't help that he was having trouble concentrating on what he was doing.

"Not Kurt this time…" Blaine sighed, rolling his eyes as he looked up to see Finn standing in the doorway. "Mom wanted me to tell you that dinner's going to be ready in like ten minutes."

"Thanks, Finn." Blaine turned back to his book, still hoping that he could finish before dinner. He was almost done, but of course Finn couldn't just leave him alone and let him get this done.

"You're upset with Kurt about something?" Blaine dropped his pencil, turning around again so that he was facing his boyfriend's step-brother. "Did he do something wrong?" 

"I'm just frustrated right now, Finn. I'm almost done with catching up on my chemistry assignments, when I finish that I'll just have to work on makeup work from English, and I can't work for more than ten minutes at a time without _someone_ coming in here to ask if I'm okay. I just need some space, but this because of this damn medication I can't have it!" Blaine knocked the pill bottle off his desk as he spoke, watching it as the lid popped off and a few of the pills spilled onto the carpet. "_Fuck!_"

"Dude… calm down…" Finn commented. Blaine shook his head, not even really thinking about it as his hand balled into a fist and slammed into the nearest wall. "Blaine!" Blaine's hand connected with the wall a few more times, until two strong arms wrapped around his chest and pinned his arms at his sides.

"Kid, calm down. Calm down…" Blaine didn't struggle, closing his eyes and doing his best to do as he was told. Eventually he relaxed and the arms let go of him. "What the hell was that about?"

"I d-don't…" Blaine hissed in pain as he tried to move his hand, suddenly reminded that punching a wall wasn't a good idea. "_Fuck…_"

"Let me see your hand." Blaine held still as Burt took his hand and gently tried to move his fingers. Pain shot through his hand again and Blaine whimpered. "Finn, go get me some ice and a towel. Blaine, sit down."

"I didn't mean to mess up the wall…" Blaine whispered, glancing at the spot he'd punched and noticing the dent.

"Don't worry about that now. Just tell me what's going on… why did you punch the wall?" Burt asked. Blaine could hear the worry in the tone of Burt's voice, telling him that the man wasn't upset.

"I don't know…" Blaine whispered. "I… I just got so angry, and I couldn't stop myself…" Blaine watched as Finn came back into the room and Burt took the towel-wrapped ice pack from the football player. "I'm sorry…"

"You need to ice your hand. I'm going to go call Dr. Benson, and then we're going to the emergency room – you've probably broken something." Blaine bit down on his bottom lip as the man set the ice on his injured hand. He closed his eyes, fighting back tears.

"What's going on?" The worry in Kurt's voice was obvious.

"Kurt, stay here with Blaine for a few minutes. I've gotta make a phone call, and then we're taking him to the ER." Blaine didn't open his eyes until he felt Kurt kneeling next to him and taking the ice to view the damage.

"Shouldn't you just take him? I mean, can't the phone call wait? His hand is already starting to swell and bruise…"

"I'm calling Dr. Benson to meet us at the hospital." Blaine watched the look of worry cross Kurt's face as Burt left the room, before Kurt turned to look at him again.

"What happened? Are you okay?"

"I just couldn't stop myself… I was so angry, for no reason. I just… I started hitting the wall, and I don't know why I did it and I'm _scared_, Kurt," Blaine began. He knew that he was rushing through his words, but Blaine couldn't stop himself or make himself slow down.

"Okay… calm down…" Blaine closed his eyes as Kurt leaned in and pressed a kiss against his cheek. "You're okay now."

"No, I'm not…" Blaine replied, shaking his head. "I… I think I broke something. And I don't know _why_ I did this. Why I got so angry. I was frustrated when Finn walked in, and I just _blew up_. And now I feel so hopeless…" Blaine couldn't help the tears that started to stream down his face as he spoke. He was so confused and exhausted from breaking down and he just didn't know what he was doing.

"Shh… it's okay." Blaine let his head rest against the boy's shoulder as Kurt tried to comfort him.

"Kurt, why don't you go down to dinner. I'm going to take Blaine to the hospital to get his hand looked at." Blaine pulled away from Kurt slowly, reaching up with his uninjured hand to wipe away the tears.

"I don't want to leave him…" Kurt replied.

"It's just for a couple of hours. We'll be back before long."

"Please, Dad… he's terrified…" Blaine took Kurt's hand, squeezing it gently.

"I-it's okay, Kurt. I just want to get this over with…" Blaine stood up slowly, letting Kurt help him. He winced as the bag of ice shifted and fell off his hand.

"I'll get it." Blaine smiled slightly as Kurt bent over and grabbed the ice, wrapping it back up and gently holding it against his hand again.

The trip to the emergency room didn't take long, but it was silent. Even after they went inside and sat down to wait for a doctor to see him, neither of them said a word. Almost as soon as they were taken into the back, Dr. Benson walked into the room with them.

"I got here as soon as I could. Blaine, are you okay?" Blaine nodded, moving the ice away from his hand so that she could see the damage.

"I don't know what I was doing… I just lost it…" Blaine bit down on his bottom lip as Dr. Benson looked at the bruising and swelling. "Please don't…" he added as the woman started to move his fingers.

"Okay. Do you want Burt to leave, or are you okay with talking in front of him?" Blaine shrugged.

"I'm going to go get something from the cafeteria. I'll leave you two alone for a while." Blaine waited as Burt walked out of the room.

"Tell me what happened."

"I was doing my homework, and Finn came in. I was… I got so frustrated, and I didn't know why. I threw the pill bottle across the room, and I was _so_ mad. I couldn't stop myself… I just started punching the wall…" Blaine began.

"What's been going on since the last time we saw each other? How have you been feeling?"

Blaine shrugged. "Okay… I've had a lot of energy, been bouncing off the walls. I've been having trouble concentrating on school…"

"Have you been having trouble sleeping?" Blaine nodded. "Has the medication been helping with your depression?" Blaine shrugged.

"I feel better, but it still hurts to think about everything… I still get upset…" Blaine bit down on his bottom lip as someone knocked on the door and Dr. Benson opened it.

"We'll talk more after someone has taken a look at your hand, okay?"

"What's wrong with me?" Blaine asked.

"We'll talk once they've taken care of you, okay? The most important thing right now is that you need medical attention."

Blaine lost track of time as he waited for the doctors to finish poking and prodding at his hand, before his arm was finally wrapped up in a soft cast that kept him from moving his wrist or his broken fingers.

"_Please_ tell me what's going on… tell me why I'm so fucked up in the head…" Blaine commented to Dr. Benson as the doctor that had checked his x-rays walked out of the room.

"Blaine, I think you're having a mixed episode. You're experiencing symptoms of both depression and mania simultaneously…"

"So I am crazy."

"I didn't say that. Blaine… have you ever had periods of insomnia? Racing thoughts? Irritability?" Blaine thought for a moment, trying to remember.

"Last year, during exams… I barely slept for three weeks. I don't even remember most of it. I slept for two days straight after that. When I woke up, some of my friends wouldn't talk to me for a few days…"

"It sounds like you might have experienced a manic episode. Have you had other episodes like that before?" Blaine shook his head.

"Not that I remember. Do I… I don't have to stay in the hospital, do I?"

"No. You're going home tonight, and we'll talk tomorrow about what we're going to do to help you deal with your symptoms." Blaine nodded, sighing.

"Can you at least tell me what's wrong?"

"I don't know for sure… and I don't want to scare you."


	30. Chapter 30

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: So I wrote another chapter, instead of writing the last of my 3 papers. It's not due until Thursday, and I've already written almost half of it. I'm also watching **_**Warehouse 13**_** as I write this, and it is AMAZING. If you love anything sci-fi-ish ( **_**Dr. Who**_** and **_**Torchwood**_** being good examples of what I'm talking about), you should check it out.**

"Please just tell me what's going on… I need to know what's wrong with me." Blaine shifted uncomfortably on the couch as he waited for Dr. Benson to sit down in her usual place and say something.

"I want to run some more tests… a physical, an EEG, and a CT scan to rule out any kind of organic illness."

"What's wrong with me?"

"I think you have bipolar disorder. A lot of times, when someone with a bipolar disorder is put on anti-depressants they end up experiencing manic symptoms," Dr. Benson replied.

"So what do I do?"

"We're going to keep working on your issues for now and I'm going to put you on lithium to treat the manic symptoms." Blaine nodded, closing his eyes. "How's your arm?"

"It hurts… I feel stupid now for hitting the wall like that."

"You weren't thinking clearly when you did that. How has today gone?" Blaine shrugged, adjusting the sling he'd been given in the emergency room the night before.

"They gave me some pain meds… I slept most of the day. I… I think everyone's kind of afraid of me after last night. And that's not what I want. I don't want to scare away everyone that loves me," Blaine replied.

"And they aren't going to be, Blaine. We're going to get all of this under control. It's just going to take some time and some more work, but we're going to get you through all of this." Blaine nodded.

"Can I just… is it okay if I go home now? My hand is starting to hurt again."

"I need to talk to Burt about taking you to have these tests done, but I'm going to go ahead and give you a prescription for lithium. I want you to go ahead and start taking it now, before we get the test results and I officially give you a diagnosis, because I'm worried about you."

"I don't understand…" Blaine began.

"Right now you're in a mixed state… it's the most confusing and dangerous phase of bipolar disorder. Most of the people with bipolar who commit suicide do it in this phase because it just gets to be too much to deal with. Last night, you couldn't tell me _why_ you had done those things but you knew that you had done it and you were upset about that. I don't want you to become a statistic."

"But will it help? I don't want to do that, I don't want to lose control like that again…"

"Which is why I'm changing your medication. Lithium is a mood stabilizer, and it's going to help keep your manic episodes in check. And I'm going to have you stop the Prozac."

"But if it's helping…" Blaine began.

"It's not. Prozac is most likely what caused your current situation. And the last thing you need is to be pushed into a manic episode… you hurt yourself without intending to do it or knowing _why_ you were behaving that way. That isn't okay." Blaine nodded, closing his eyes as Dr. Benson got up and walked over to the door. He didn't listen to the conversation that was going on between his doctor and his boyfriend's father; Blaine knew that it would basically the same as the conversation he had just had with Dr. Benson.

"So you think he's okay to go to Toronto to visit his family over Thanksgiving?"

"If Blaine agrees to stay on his medication, and as long as he agrees to call if anything happens while he's there, I don't think it will be a problem. But the orthopedic surgeon will have the last word about whether or not he's allowed to go when you see him to get a real cast on Blaine's broken hand. But I do want him to see the doctor and get checked out before he leaves, just to be safe."

"Of course."

"I can arrange an appointment for him tomorrow afternoon after school…"

"He's staying home for the rest of this week anyway, until we get a decent cast on his hand. Those kids at McKinley are too rough."

"I'll try and get him an appointment for tomorrow morning, then. We'll get this done as quickly as possible, get a definite diagnosis and get Blaine feeling better," Dr. Benson replied.

"That sounds good. Thank you." Blaine looked up as Burt turned to him and smiled. "Let's get you home so that you can get some more rest." Blaine got up slowly and started to follow Burt out of the room.

"Just let me get you that prescription." Blaine waited in silence as Dr. Benson wrote it out and handed the paper to Burt. "This is instead of the Prozac… given the circumstances, it's more risky to keep him on the medication for depression."

"Because it was the medication that was messing with his head?"

"It's pushing him towards a manic state, yes. His symptoms seem to be more along the lines of Bipolar I, which means that he's a danger to himself if he becomes manic. I'm more worried about what he might do in a manic state than what might happen to him in a depressed state." Blaine bit down on his bottom lip, wondering what Burt must be thinking about him at that moment. But Burt didn't say anything as they walked out to the truck. He didn't even say anything as they drove towards the pharmacy. Not until Blaine opened his mouth.

"I'll understand if you don't want me to stay with you anymore."

"What are you talking about?"

"After all of this… I'll understand if you think I'm too dangerous and you don't want me to be around your family," Blaine replied. He stared down at his hands as he spoke; he didn't want to look at Burt and see what he was expecting.

"I'm not going to kick you out, Blaine. Not when you need us more than ever. Carole and I told you that you could live with us as long as you needed to, and that offer stands. If the worst you do is bang up my walls – and you're going to help me fix that when your hand heals, by the way – then given what you've been through in the past few months I would consider that normal."

"And if I do something worse?" Blaine asked.

"You're going to take this medication every day to try and stop you from doing anything worse, and you're going to keep working with Dr. Benson to make sure that you aren't a threat to yourself or anyone else. We're going to what we can to help you… as long as you want our help."

"You shouldn't have to deal with my crazy."

"Blaine, you're not crazy. You're going to be fine as long as you keep following Dr. Benson's instructions."

"What if the medication doesn't work? What if I do lose it?"

"We'll figure that out _if_ it comes up. But there has to be more than one medication you can take for this if the first one doesn't work out. You're going to get through this. You're going to be okay."


	31. Chapter 31

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: So this is probably going to be the next to last chapter – I think I'm going to end this with Christmas. Song lyrics are from "My Guardian Angel" by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus… and they totally weren't planned. I just sort of wrote a line, and all of a sudden it **_**clicked**_**. I love it when things like this happen.**

Blaine's aunt and uncle had freaked out a little when they found out about Dr. Benson's suspicions and Blaine's outburst. Aunt Sarah had even talked about driving all the way to Ohio to make sure that he really was okay, at least until Burt had assured them that it wasn't necessary. Still, they had hovered and spent entirely too much time with Blaine during his brief stay in Toronto.

It was strange walking back into the Hudson-Hummel home after being away for four days. Not much had changed physically; the only real difference in his surroundings was the Christmas tree that had been set up by the front window – a fake tree because Kurt was allergic to the real thing. But somehow, Blaine _felt_ different.

"Hey."

Blaine turned as he heard Kurt's voice, smiling at the older boy.

"Hey." Blaine made the first move, walking over to his boyfriend and planting a quick kiss against the taller boy's cheek. "I need to go put my stuff down…" Blaine wasn't that surprised when Kurt took his suitcase and started running up the stairs with it. He had a feeling that the boy had probably planned something, given the fact that they had been apart for four days – the longest they had ever gone without seeing each other. Blaine followed Kurt and dropped his backpack on the bed when he walked into his room. "Someone's excited for me to be back."

"I've been waiting all day for you to get home. Plus I was hoping that we could go get some coffee," Kurt replied. Blaine smiled, shaking his head as Kurt started opening his suitcase to unpack everything.

"If you want to go get coffee, shouldn't we wait until we get back to start unpacking all of my stuff? Besides, it's not like I need any of the clothes tomorrow… I have plenty of time to wash everything _after_ we go out." Blaine walked over to Kurt and wrapped his good arm around the boy's waist from behind, pressing a kiss on the sensitive skin behind Kurt's ear.

"You're trying to seduce me with the door open?"

"There is no seduction going on here… I just want you to stop freaking out so much about my clothes getting wrinkled and spend this afternoon with _me_, doing something fun." Blaine smiled as Kurt finally turned around.

"How's your hand?"

"Sore. Why?"

"I don't want to take you out if you don't feel okay. Let me get you some Tylenol for your hand, and then we'll go get some coffee and hang out for a while. Unless you have too much homework…" Kurt began.

"I didn't really leave the house much at my aunt and uncle's… my cousins still had school, so I ended up doing my homework while they were gone."

"Okay then… Tylenol, then coffee, then whatever until dinnertime." Blaine smiled, leaning in and pressing a kiss against Kurt's lips. "You're happy… I've missed that."

"So have I," Blaine replied. "I feel… normal again. Like I can breathe, for the first time in a long time."

"The medication's working," Kurt replied with a smile. Blaine nodded, leaning in for another kiss.

"That guy, the _shell_ of a human being that was living here… that wasn't me. I… I know that I wasn't very pleasant to be around over the past few months," Blaine commented. He started to say something else, but he was stopped by Kurt's lips on his.

"It's over, okay? I know we might have to deal with the depression part again, but I can deal with that and I'm going to be there for you through it all."

"_Even if saving you sends me to heaven,/'Cause you're my… you're my/My true love, my whole world,/Please don't throw that away_…" Blaine smiled as he finished the chorus of the song.

"God…you would start with that song, wouldn't you?"

"It's a good song," Blaine replied. "Besides, it's true. I really do love you that much."

"We should get going, before we start something we might regret doing with my family home." Blaine nodded, pulling away from his boyfriend just enough so that he could take Kurt's hand and walk down the hall next to him. "Why don't you go to the kitchen and find something to drink. I'll get the Tylenol for you, so that we can go."

Blaine did as Kurt suggested, going downstairs and getting a glass out of the cabinet. He didn't really think things through too well; getting the bottle of soda open proved to be a little too difficult for Blaine to do one handed. "Want some help with that?"

"I'd really appreciate it," Blaine replied, smiling at his boyfriend's step-mother as she took the bottle and started to twist the cap open. "I guess I didn't think my choice of beverages through very well… I haven't had to open a new bottle since I screwed up my hand. I didn't think about how difficult the bottles could be."

"How are you feeling?" Carole asked.

"Normal. For the first time in a while, I'm not thinking about suicide or feeling completely out of control. It's a nice change." Blaine smiled as Carole filled the glass for him. "Thank you."

"So, do you boys have plans for this afternoon?"

"We're going out for coffee, once Blaine's hand stops hurting. Then maybe a trip to the mall to start Christmas shopping?"

"How did I _know_ you were going to suggest shopping?" Blaine asked, turning to his boyfriend with a smile as Kurt brought him a couple of the pills to take.

"Well, it _is_ Thanksgiving weekend. All of the best sales are happening now. Besides, I know you probably didn't think about doing any of that while you were in Toronto."

"You would be surprised about what I remembered to do in Toronto," Blaine replied with a smirk. "Incidentally, keep out of my messenger bag." Kurt's present wasn't _really_ in the messenger bag, of course; Blaine had hidden it in his suitcase, and that was part of the reason he had insisted that they should go do something instead of making sure his laundry got done. The little red box was _not_ something that Blaine wanted Kurt to find before Christmas. He'd hatched a plan while he was in Toronto, and Blaine didn't want it getting screwed up by Kurt's desire to know what his Christmas present was early.


	32. Chapter 32

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: And… I finished. While watching one of those silly animated Christmas specials while I wait for **_**Glee**_** to start. :)**

The Christmas tree looked almost _too_ perfect sitting in front of the window. But it was so different from what Blaine was used to; he couldn't help but love it no matter how much of a waste he thought it was. Kurt and Carole had spent hours working on putting the ornaments in the perfect places, making sure that it looked exactly the way they wanted it. In the back of his mind, Blaine knew that they had done it, at least partially, for his sake.

Blaine's family hadn't ever done Christmas – not really. He'd never had a tree at home growing up, and there hadn't really been presents for any occasion despite the fact that his father had plenty of money. There had been gifts from relatives, of course, but they hadn't always been delivered on the expected days. So to have an actual _date_ that he could look forward to, and to know that he would at least have one present sitting under that tree on Christmas morning was something completely new.

"You've been staring at that tree for ten minutes. Something wrong with it?" Burt asked. Blaine shook his head, smiling as he played with the small red box in his hands.

"Just… admiring. I can't remember ever having a Christmas tree when I was growing up."

"I heard." They were quiet for a moment. "I'm guessing that's Kurt's Christmas present?"

"I picked it up in Toronto. It's… it's something special."

"You should put it under the tree, then. We open presents from each other on Christmas Eve, after dinner." Blaine nodded, kneeling down and tucking the box into the branches so that Kurt wouldn't see it immediately when they all gathered around the tree later in the evening. Where he placed it, Blaine had a feeling that no one would notice it until he was ready to hand the box over to his boyfriend.

Dinner was rather uneventful; Kurt and Carole had been cooking most of the afternoon, shooing the other three away every time they entered the kitchen because they were more trouble in that particular room than they were helpful. So Blaine had gone the whole day barely seeing his boyfriend.

"So… how was your first Christmas dinner ever?" Blaine smiled as Kurt slid onto the couch next to him and slid his hand into Blaine's despite the fact that Blaine still couldn't grip Kurt's hand properly. The cast had come off a week earlier, but he'd been forced to keep his fingers still for so long that they were still stiff and difficult to move.

"It was amazing. But I think the best part is that I'm getting to spend Christmas with you," Blaine replied, snuggling closer to his boyfriend as Finn started passing out presents. He didn't really expect much, so when Finn put a third and then a fourth present in the pile next to him, Blaine had to admit he was surprised. "Are these…?"

"What? Did you think we would forget you?" Carole asked with a smile. "Your aunt and uncle sent something, too. But I think it's still under the tree." Blaine couldn't help but watch in awe as the pile of presents doubled in number before Finn was done passing everything out.

It didn't take long for the whole group to finish unwrapping their presents; Finn was like a small child when it came to Christmas presents, and he ripped through the wrapping paper in record time. Kurt and their parents were a bit more civilized in how they unwrapped things, but it still wasn't long until the living room floor was covered in scraps of wrapping paper and bows and all of the presents had been thoroughly inspected. All except one.

"Is that all of the presents?" Blaine could tell from the look on Kurt's face that he was slightly disappointed; the red box was still sitting on the tree, meaning that Kurt hadn't gotten anything from Blaine yet.

"There's one more…" Blaine got up and pulled the box out, holding it out for Kurt. "I found this in Toronto, and I thought you would love it." Blaine sat back down as Kurt tried to undo the ribbon that had been wrapped a little too tightly around the box. "I didn't do that, I promise…" It wasn't until Burt pulled out his pocket knife that anyone was actually able to get into the box.

"Oh my God… _Blaine!_"

"I take it you like it?" Blaine asked, smiling at Kurt.

"_Like_ it? Blaine, it's gorgeous… it can't be real…"

"The stone's synthetic, but the setting is real," Blaine replied, reaching over and pulling the ring out so that he could put it on Kurt's hand. "It's a Claddagh ring." Blaine slipped the ring onto Kurt's right hand, making sure he turned the heart inward. "When the heart points outward, the person is single. If you turn it in, you're in a relationship. And if you put it on your left hand, it means that you're engaged or married." Blaine smiled as Kurt admired the ring for a moment, before leaning in and pressing a kiss against Blaine's lips.

"You put my gift to shame…"

"I just wanted to get something nice for you. And I love that sweater. I wasn't even expecting to get presents…"

"Dude… how could you _not_ expect presents? It's Christmas…" Finn began.

"Not everyone celebrates Christmas, Finn. And not everyone that _does_ celebrate Christmas gets presents," Carole reminded him.

"Wait… you've never gotten Christmas presents before?"

"Not on Christmas," Blaine replied. "My aunt and uncle have always sent me something, but my dad didn't always remember to give them to me. Once, I got two or three years worth of Christmas and birthday presents on St. Patrick's Day… my dad's excuse was that he forgot about it."

"He forgot your _birthday_, too?" Blaine shrugged, looking down at his hands in embarrassment. Of course it was strange; Blaine didn't know of anyone else whose parents would forget something that important. But then again, his father wasn't exactly the greatest parent, given the reasons Blaine was currently living with his boyfriend's family.

"I come from a really screwed up family, okay? When you grow up like that, it just kind of becomes normal… you learn not to expect anything," Blaine replied.

"I can promise you, Blaine… that's not going to be normal for you ever again."


End file.
